. Military Space News .
NUKEWARS
North Korea fires ICBM, lands near Japan
by AFP Staff Writers
Seoul (AFP) Nov 18, 2022

North Korea fired an intercontinental ballistic missile Friday in one of its most powerful ever tests, with Japan saying the weapon may have had the range to hit the United States mainland.

The missile was believed to have landed in Japan's exclusive economic zone (EEZ), Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said as he blasted the launch as "absolutely unacceptable".

The launch is Pyongyang's second in two days and part of a record-breaking blitz in recent weeks, which North Korea -- and some allies including Moscow -- blame on the US boosting regional security cooperation, including joint military exercises.

The missile flew 1,000 km (621 miles) at an altitude of 6,100 km, South Korea's military said, only slightly less than the ICBM Pyongyang fired on March 24, which appeared to be the North's most powerful such test yet.

US Vice President Kamala Harris convened a meeting on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific summit in Bangkok to discuss the launch with regional leaders.

"We strongly condemn these actions and we again call for North Korea to stop further unlawful, destabilising acts," Harris said.

North Korea has fired scores of ballistic missiles this year -- far more than any other year on record -- and recent launches have been increasingly provocative, including firing a missile over Japan last month, triggering a rare air raid warning.

On November 2, Pyongyang fired 23 missiles, including one which crossed the de facto maritime border and landed near the South's territorial waters for the first time since the end of hostilities in the Korean War in 1953. Seoul called it "effectively a territorial invasion".

The next day, North Korea fired an ICBM -- although Seoul said it appeared to fail mid-flight.

Friday's ICBM was fired on a "lofted trajectory", Tokyo's Defence Minister Yasukazu Hamada said, meaning the missile is fired up and not out, typically to avoid overflying neighbouring countries.

He said their calculations indicated that the missile "could have had a range capability of 15,000 km, depending on the weight of its warhead, and if that's the case, it means the US mainland was within its range," he said.

The launch comes a day after North Korea fired a short-range ballistic missile in what Pyongyang said was a response to Sunday's talks between Seoul, Tokyo and Washington.

The North's foreign minister, Choe Son Hui, had warned that Pyongyang would take "fiercer" military action if the US followed through on plans to strengthen its "extended deterrence" commitment to regional allies.

- 'A clear message' -

In addition to speaking to Seoul and Tokyo's leaders, US President Joe Biden discussed North Korea's recent missile tests with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping earlier this week, as fears grow that the reclusive regime will soon carry out its seventh nuclear test.

The launches are "a clear message to the US and Japan", said Han Kwon-hee, manager of the Missile Strategy Forum, adding the launches were "part of the North's response to recent talks".

Pyongyang is trying to show the South and America that its "missiles can easily break through their defence systems, no matter how much the two try to improve them", Han added.

Washington has responded to North Korea's sanction-defying missile tests by extending exercises with South Korea, including deploying a strategic bomber, and by moving to boost the protection it offers Seoul and Tokyo.

China, Pyongyang's main diplomatic and economic ally, joined Russia in May in vetoing a US-led bid at the UN Security Council to tighten sanctions on North Korea.

Experts say North Korea is seizing the opportunity to conduct banned missile tests, confident of escaping further UN sanctions due to Ukraine-linked gridlock at the United Nations.

"I primarily see these types of lofted ICBM tests as having a developmental purpose," said Ankit Panda, Stanton senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

"Kim will test a nuclear weapon at a time of his choosing. North Korea can carry out such a test with little notice."

Fire and fury: North Korea's banned weapons programmes
Seoul (AFP) Nov 18, 2022 - Here is a timeline of North Korea's banned nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes:

- Beginnings -

North Korea's nuclear ambitions date back to 1953, when hostilities in the Korean War ended in a stalemate.

In the 1960s, Pyongyang receives nuclear technology and hardware from the Soviet Union -- a key Cold War ally -- to create a nuclear energy programme.

Scientists are believed to be working on a clandestine nuclear weapons programme by the 1980s, having reverse-engineered missiles from a Soviet-era Scud.

- Longer range -

Pyongyang carries out its first test of Scud-style Hwasong missiles in 1984.

It begins developing longer-range missiles from 1987, including the Taepodong-1 (2,500 kilometres or 1,550 miles) and Taepodong-2 (6,700 km).

The programme receives a major boost, possibly including warhead design blueprints, from rogue Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan in the 1990s.

The Taepodong-1 is test-fired over Japan in 1998, but Pyongyang declares a moratorium on such tests the next year as ties with the United States improve.

- 2006-13: Nuclear tests -

North Korea ends the moratorium in 2005, blaming "hostile" US policy under President George W. Bush, and carries out its first nuclear test on October 9, 2006.

A second underground nuclear test is carried out in May 2009, several times more powerful than the first.

Kim Jong Un succeeds as leader of North Korea after the death of his father Kim Jong Il in December 2011, and oversees a third nuclear test in 2013.

- 2016: Japanese waters -

Pyongyang claims a fourth underground nuclear test in January 2016 is a hydrogen bomb.

In August, it launches a ballistic missile directly into Japanese-controlled waters for the first time. It then successfully tests another submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) the same month.

A fifth nuclear test follows in September.

- 2017: 'Fire and fury' -

Pyongyang launches multiple ballistic missiles between February and May that land in the Sea of Japan, also known as the East Sea. It says the tests are drills for possible attacks on US bases in Japan.

It says in May it has tested an intermediate-range ballistic rocket, the Hwasong-12, which flies 700 km.

On July 4, North Korea announces it successfully tested an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of reaching Alaska -- a gift for the "American bastards" announced on US Independence Day.

A second ICBM test follows the same month.

Then-president Donald Trump threatens Pyongyang with "fire and fury" over its missile programme.

- 2017: Largest nuclear test yet -

North Korea conducts its sixth and largest nuclear test on September 3, 2017. Monitoring groups estimate a yield of 250 kilotons, 16 times the size of the US bomb that destroyed Hiroshima in 1945.

Trump declares North Korea a state sponsor of terrorism and imposes fresh sanctions.

Pyongyang launches a new Hwasong-15 ICBM on November 29, which it claims could deliver a "super-large heavy warhead" anywhere on the US mainland.

Analysts doubt that Pyongyang has mastered the advanced technology needed for the rocket to survive re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere.

- 2018: Detente -

Pyongyang says on April 21, 2018, that nuclear tests and ICBM launches will cease immediately and that its nuclear test site will be dismantled ahead of a first meeting between Trump and Kim in Singapore in June.

- 2019-2021: New weapons, new tensions -

A second summit between Trump and Kim in Hanoi collapses in February 2019.

Tensions mount again in 2021, with North Korea carrying out a number of weapons tests, including a claimed SLBM launch, another launched from a train, and what it says is a hypersonic glide missile.

- March 2022: 'Monster' missile -

On March 16, Pyongyang fires a suspected Hwasong-17, which analysts have dubbed the "monster missile". But it explodes immediately after launch.

Days later, Pyongyang successfully fires an ICBM on March 24 -- which it claims is the Hwasong-17.

But Washington and Seoul suspect it was actually an older Hwasong-15, and that Pyongyang faked a "monster missile" launch for domestic propaganda reasons.

- September-October 2022: Tactical nuclear drills -

After Kim announces earlier in the year that he will accelerate nuclear development, North Korea changes its laws in September to allow a preventive nuclear strike and declares itself an "irreversible" nuclear power.

On October 4, Pyongyang fires an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) over Japan for the first time in five years, prompting Tokyo to issue a rare warning for people to take shelter.

North Korea says a week later the test launch of a new IRBM was part of two-week-long "tactical nuclear" drills overseen by Kim.

- November 2022: Record-breaking blitz -

Pyongyang fires more than 20 missiles on November 2 -- including one that lands close to South Korean waters -- and an artillery barrage into a maritime "buffer zone", part of what it says is a response to large-scale US-South Korea air drills.

One short-range ballistic missile crosses the de facto maritime border, with residents on Ulleungdo island told to seek shelter. South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol slams it as "effectively a territorial invasion".

North Korea fires three more missiles the next day, including an ICBM that Seoul says failed.

Then on November 18, Pyongyang fires another ICBM, which Tokyo says might be able to hit the US mainland, depending on the weight of its warhead.

The ICBM launch comes a day after Pyongyang warned of "fiercer" military action if the US strengthened its "extended deterrence" commitment to South Korea and Japan against the North's military actions.


Related Links
Learn about nuclear weapons doctrine and defense at SpaceWar.com
Learn about missile defense at SpaceWar.com
All about missiles at SpaceWar.com
Learn about the Superpowers of the 21st Century at SpaceWar.com


Thanks for being here;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once


credit card or paypal
SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5 Billed Monthly


paypal only


NUKEWARS
US condemns 'illegal and destabilizing' N.Korea ICBM launch
Washington (AFP) Nov 3, 2022
North Korea's launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile is "illegal and destabilizing," US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Thursday. Austin also branded the North's actions "irresponsible and reckless" during a joint news conference at the Pentagon alongside his South Korean counterpart Lee Jong-sup. South Korea's military said earlier that the ICBM launch - part of a salvo of missiles fired on Thursday - was "presumed to have ended in failure." In response to the launches, South ... read more

Comment using your Disqus, Facebook, Google or Twitter login.



Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle

NUKEWARS
Ukraine hails arrival of Western air defence systems

Spain to send air defence systems to Ukraine: NATO chief

Ukraine has received German Iris-T air defence system: minister

UK to supply Ukraine with air defence missiles

NUKEWARS
Iran says it has developed hypersonic missile

Lithuania to buy 8 HIMARS rocket launchers from US

Iran hypersonic missile claim raises nuclear watchdog concern

North Korea missile did not fly over Japan: defence minister

NUKEWARS
Taiwan's Chien Hsiang loitering drone was designed to destroy enemy radar and UAVs

Northrop Grumman's C-UAS system of systems architecture excels during complex live fire tests

China's MD-22 hypersonic UAV could be strategic asset in near- or outer-space

RDARS Eagle Nest Autonomous Drone-In-a-Box solution supports SpaceX Starlink Satellite Communications

NUKEWARS
Arianespace to launch EAGLE-1 for Europe's Quantum Cryptography program

Arianespace to launch EAGLE-1 for Europe's Quantum Cryptography program

Rivada Space Networks signs MoU with SpeQtral to develop ultra-secure communications

Elon Musk says SpaceX can't continue to fund Starlink in Ukraine

NUKEWARS
UK to join EU project to speed up troop movements

Climate change escalates risk of conflict, demands on US forces

Rapid Dragon capability demonstrated in NORWAY

Northrop Grumman demonstrates new pre-prototype Ground System at Project Convergence 2022

NUKEWARS
US announces $400 million in security assistance for Ukraine

France-UK to hold defence summit in early 2023: Macron

NKorea dismisses as 'groundless' US claims of arms supplies to Russia

Japan PM pledges to boost military capacity

NUKEWARS
Philippines wants China to explain 'benign' account of rocket part seizure

Germany to support defence of Polish airspace

US, China defence chiefs meet in Cambodia

Russia says 'fortifying' annexed Crimean peninsula

NUKEWARS
New system designs nanomaterials that conduct heat in specific ways

Physicists generate new nanoscale spin waves

'Naturally insulating' material emits pulses of superfluorescent light at room temperature

Making nanodiamonds out of bottle plastic









The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us.