North Korea said Friday it launched an intercontinental ballistic missile to “sweep fear in enemies,” while South Korea and Japan agreed at a summit to work closely with the United States on regional security and held military exercises across the region.
The missile was launched Thursday morning before South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol met Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at a summit partly geared toward rebuilding security ties between U.S. allies in the face of nuclear threats from North Korea.
With 4 missile displays in about a week, North Korea has stepped up its tit-for-tat response to the ongoing U.S.-South Korean military exercises, that are the largest of their kind in years.
The Biden administration wants higher relations between South Korea and Japan, which have deteriorated in recent years due to historical issues, because it seeks to strengthen its network of alliances in Asia to counter North Korea’s nuclear threat and China’s growing influence.
![Photo of one of the intercontinental ballistic missiles being launched from Sunan International Airport in Pyongyang, North Korea, March 16, 2023.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/NK-Missiles-5.jpg?w=1024)
![The North Korean government displays an ICBM during an exercise at Sunan International Airport in Pyongyang, North Korea, Thursday, March 16, 2023.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/NK-Missiles-4.jpg?w=1024)
As well as to the combined exercises, which began on Monday and can run until March 23, the United States and South Korea are also participating in anti-submarine exercises together with Japan, Canada and India, which began on Wednesday.
The official Korean Central News Agency reported that leader Kim Jong Un oversaw the test firing of the Hwasong-17 missile and stressed the need to “sweep fear into enemies” because of what it called “open hostility” shown to the North by the US-South Korea exercise.
Launched at a high angle to avoid the territory of North Korea’s neighbors, the missile reached a maximum altitude of 6,045 kilometers (3,756 miles) and traveled 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) before landing in waters off the country’s east coast, KCNA reported.
![North Korean leader Kim Jong Un watches what he says is an intercontinental ballistic missile the country has test fired at Sunan International Airport in Pyongyang, North Korea, Thursday, March 16, 2023.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/NK-Missiles-3-1.jpg?w=1024)
South Korea’s and Japan’s militaries rated the flight similarly, indicating that the American continent was inside range of the missile. It shouldn’t be clear whether North Korea has developed nuclear bombs sufficiently small to fit in its long-range missiles, or technology that can ensure its warheads survive re-entry when fired on a normal trajectory.
The official North Korean newspaper Rodong Sinmun published photos of Kim watching from afar as the missile fired from a launch vehicle parked on the airport’s runway.
Kim was accompanied by a girl who appeared to be his daughter, possibly named Kim Ju Ae, and was about 10 years old. It has accompanied him to several military events because it was first publicly revealed during one other ICBM launch in November. Analysts say the purpose of her public appearances at military events is to tie the Kim family’s dynastic rule of North Korea to the nuclear arsenal, which Kim sees as the strongest guarantee for her survival.
![A U.S. soldier, center, talks on the radio during a joint military drill between South Korea and the United States in Paju, South Korea, Thursday, March 16, 2023.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/NK-Missiles-1-1.jpg?w=1024)
Rodong Sinmun also published photos that were allegedly taken by a camera on the missile because it took off into space. They showed a rounded view of the Earth, with clouds scattered over what appeared to be the Korean Peninsula and the Asian coast.
The photos were apparently intended as proof that the missile would have the opportunity to accurately hit its goal, said Cheong Seong-Chang, a senior analyst at the private Sejong Institute in South Korea.
While all of North Korea’s ICBM tests have been conducted at a high angle, Cheong said the North is probably going on the verge of firing one of these missiles at an angle closer to normal ballistic trajectory across the Pacific Ocean, which can be one of the most provocative displays of weapons.
KCNA said the launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile is a “stronger warning” to North Korea’s rivals, who’re escalating tensions with their “crazy, provocative and aggressive large-scale war exercises.” The test was also intended to confirm the reliability of the weapon system, KCNA said.
![U.S. soldiers participate in a joint military exercise between South Korea and the United States in Paju, South Korea, Thursday, March 16, 2023.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/NK-Missiles-2-1.jpg?w=1024)
Kim said it was critical for North Korea’s missile forces to keep their rivals ready to counterattack with “overwhelming offensive means at any time” and make them aware that their persistent and expanded military actions “will bring them irreversible, grave danger,” KCNA said.
Lee Hyojung, a spokesman for South Korea’s Unification Ministry, which deals with inter-Korean affairs, said it’s deeply regrettable that the North continues to use US and South Korean military exercises as a pretext for staging provocative military demonstrations.
“It is obvious that North Korea’s reckless development of nuclear and missile weapons is the cause of the escalation of tensions on the Korean peninsula,” she said, calling on Pyongyang to return to dialogue.
Speaking at a lecture in Singapore on Thursday, the head of the US Indo-Pacific Command Adm. John Aquilino said China has a role to play in the world if it adheres to the rules-based order, especially with regard to North Korea, which relies on Beijing as its primary ally and economic lifeline.
North Korea’s accelerated weapons development, highlighted by the dozens of missiles it fired last 12 months, poses a growing threat to South Korea and Japan, and the country has “also developed capabilities to threaten the United States,” Aquilino said. .
“It’s destabilizing, it’s unpredictable, it’s ongoing, it isn’t slowing down. The flexibility of the People’s Republic of China to help dissuade the DPRK from carrying out these events can be helpful,” Aquilino said, using the initials of North Korea’s official name.
North Korea has long portrayed regular U.S. and South Korean military exercises as attempts at a potential invasion, although allies describe the exercises as defensive.
![South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol (left) and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida (right) shake hands after a joint press conference at the Prime Minister's official residence in Tokyo, Japan, Thursday, March 16, 2023.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/NK.jpg?w=1024)
Many experts say North Korea is using its rivals’ exercises as an excuse to aggressively construct up its nuclear arsenal and general military capabilities. They said he was trying to force the US to accept the North’s status as a nuclear power and negotiate an end to sanctions against it from a position of strength.
Since last week, North Korea has also launched cruise missiles from a submarine and launched short-range missiles into the sea in an attempt to show that it may well launch potential nuclear strikes against each South Korean and mainland targets.
Thursday’s launch was North Korea’s second intercontinental missile of the 12 months. Launched in February, the Hwasong-15 is a barely smaller weapon than the Hwasong-17.
At the summit, Yoon and Kishida leaders agreed to resume defense dialogue and further strengthen security cooperation with the United States to address North Korea and other regional challenges.
“The ever-growing threat from North Korea’s nuclear missile program is a huge threat to peace and stability not only in East Asia, but in addition to the (wider) international community,” Yoon said. “South Korea and Japan must work closely together and in solidarity to counter the threat properly.”