North Korea Launched Unprecedented Missiles For The First Time
South Korea Military reported that North Korea has launched unprecedented missiles on Wednesday (Nov 02) near Japan and South Korea. There was another fire of multiple ballistic missiles on the following day. It includes a potential failed intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that sent out a warning for people to seek shelter in certain areas in Japan. One of the missiles was reported to be landed in the Japanese prefectures of Miyagi, Yamagata, and Niigata.
North Korea launched more than 20 missiles in a single day.
The launches on Thursday are the latest in a string of recent North Korean nuclear tests that have heightened regional tensions. It is the highest launches they ever made in a single day. One of their launches made landfall on the coast of South Korea. It landed less than 60km (37 miles) off the South’s coast. This event prompted Seoul to fire three air-to-ground missiles. South Korea fired the air-to-ground missiles over the disputed maritime demarcation line.
According to Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, “North Korea’s repeated missile launches are an outrage and absolutely cannot be forgiven.”
The first missile was launched at about 7.40am (22:40 GMT on Wednesday) on a potential trajectory over Japan but that it disappeared from radars over the Sea of Japan. Then the following day missiles alerted a warning to certain areas in Japan. The following residents of the northern and central prefectures of Miyagi, Yamagata, and Niigata were advised to seek shelter inside solid structures or underground earlier in the morning. Pursuing the missile threat, the bullet train services in those regions were temporarily suspended.
North Korea’s Missiles
The Hwasong-17 has been described by North Korean official media as a “powerful nuclear war deterrent.” There are many questions regarding the missile’s capacity to deliver a nuclear payload on target, but it could conceivably put the whole US mainland within range of a North Korean nuclear bomb. However, analysts claim that it is large enough to accommodate one or even more nuclear warheads.
Regarding the missiles that have been launched, officials in South Korea and Japan suspected the missiles may have been an ICBM. ICBM are North Korea’s longest-range weapons and are built to transport a nuclear warhead to the other side of the earth.
The weapons fired might be both cruise missiles and ballistic missiles. There are substantial differences between these two types of missiles. A ballistic missile is propelled into space by one or more rockets. It leaves Earth’s atmosphere, glides across space before reentering, and then descends to its target using just gravity as power. A cruise missile has control surfaces reminiscent of an airplane’s. Its jet engine propelled while flying inside Earth’s atmosphere.
North Korea launched missiles over Japan
On October 4, North Korea launched a ballistic missile over Japan for the first time in five years. It was the furthest a rocket had ever been shot from Pyongyang. This year, North Korea launched more weapons than ever before. The latest one amid ongoing between the US and South Korea, which Pyongyang claims are a “provocation.”
According to a statement from State Department spokesperson Ned Price, the United States strongly denounced North Korea’s ICBM launch. He declared, “This launch is clearly in contravention of numerous United Nations Security Council resolutions.” It also highlights the danger posed by North Korea’s illegitimate development of WMD and ballistic missiles.
