North Korea ICBM may have failed in flight: Officials

People watch a news report about the latest North Korean missile launch with images of the North’s leader, Kim Jong Un, in Tokyo Thursday. Pic/AFP

North Korea fired multiple ballistic missiles on Thursday, including a possible failed intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that triggered an alert for residents in parts of central and northern Japan to seek shelter. Despite an initial government warning that a missile had flown over Japan, Tokyo later said that was incorrect. Officials in South Korea and Japan said the missile may have been an ICBM, which are North Korea's longest-range weapons, and are designed to carry a nuclear warhead to the other side of the planet.

South Korean officials believe the ICBM failed in flight, Yonhap news agency reported. Spokespeople for the South Korean and Japanese ministries of defence declined to confirm the possible failure. Japanese Defence Minister Yasukazu Hamada said the government lost track of the missile over the Sea of Japan, prompting it to correct its announcement that it had flown over Japan. Retired Vice Admiral and former Japan Maritime Self Defense Force fleet commander Yoji Koda said the loss of radar tracking on the projectile pointed to a failed launch. "It means at some point in the flight path there was some problem for the missile and it actually came apart," he said.

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Although the warhead came down in the sea between the Korean peninsula and Japan, debris would have been travelling at high speed and may still have passed over Japan, Koda added. North Korea has had several failed ICBM tests this year, according to South Korean and U.S. officials. The United States condemned North Korea's ICBM launch, State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement.
"This launch is a clear violation of multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions," he said. "It also demonstrates the threat from North Korea's unlawful weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programmes," Price added.

The launches came after Pyongyang demanded the US and South Korea stop large-scale military exercises, saying such "military rashness and provocation can be no longer tolerated". After Thursday's ICBM launch, the allies agreed to extend the drills past Friday, when they were scheduled to end, South Korea's Air Force said in a statement. North Korea also launched two short-range ballistic missiles on Thursday. The launches came after North Korea fired at least 23 missiles on Wednesday, the most in a single day, including one that landed off South Korea's coast for the first time.

7
No of times North Korea has fired an ICBM this year

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