North Korea Confirms Test Launch Of Ballistic Missile Capable Of Hitting Guam

Topline

North Korea on Monday confirmed its test launch of a ballistic missile capable of striking the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam a day earlier, signaling the partial end of a self imposed moratorium on the testing of nuclear weapons and long range missiles amid growing tensions with the U.S. and South Korea.

Key Facts

According to the state-controlled Korean Central News Agency, North Korean authorities test fired the Hwasong-12  intermediate range ballistic missile (IRBM) on Sunday to verify its “overall accuracy.”

The state media also published a set of images of the launch—one showing the missile being fired from a launcher and another showing North Korea from space, purportedly captured by a camera installed on the missile’s warhead.

The North Korean media noted that the missile was launched at a steep angle towards the waters off its east coast, “in consideration of the security of neighboring countries.”

South Korean and Japanese officials reported that the missile flew a distance of about 800 kilometers (497 miles) and rose to a maximum altitude of 2000 kilometers (1,242 miles). before landing in the waters between Japan and the Korean peninsula.

The ballistic missile launch is the seventh weapons test carried out by North Korea since the start of 2022.

A White House official on Sunday said the missile test was being viewed as an provocation, to win sanctions relief from the U.S., and added that the Biden administration will respond with an unspecified move in the coming days.

Big Number

4,500 kilometers (2,800 miles). That is believed to be the maximum range of the nuclear capable Hwasong-12 missile when fired on a standard launch trajectory. The purported range is sufficient to strike Guam, the U.S. Pacific territory which North Korea threatened to target with “enveloping fire” in 2017.

Tangent

North Korea is banned from performing ballistic missile tests as part of a series of resolutions passed by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). Pyongyang, however, has shown very little regard for the ban, having carried out several ballistic missile tests both last year and in January. The Biden administration’s efforts to impose U.N. sanctions on North Korea for these violations have been delayed by China and Russia. Ballistics missile tests are considered a more significant threat than other missile types as they are often significantly larger, carry bigger payloads and have longer ranges. In 2017, North Korea carried out the test launch of the Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), which it claims is capable of striking nearly the entire U.S. mainland.

Key Background

Earlier this month, the North Korean leadership indicated that Pyongyang will end its self-imposed pause on testing nuclear weapons and long range missiles to bolster its defenses against a “hostile” United States. During a meeting of the country’s powerful politburo—led by Kim Jong-un—the country’s leaders said they recognized the need to prepare for a “long-term confrontation” with the United States and to do so it may consider resuming all “temporarily-suspended activities.” North Korea has not carried out any nuclear weapons or long-range intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) tests since 2017 as part of a self-imposed moratorium put in place by Kim at a time when he hoped that his growing personal relationship with former President Donald Trump would lead the U.S. to lift sanctions against North Korea. While Kim’s moratorium did not explicitly mention IRBMs like the Hwasong-12, even that missile or anything with a similar range had not been tested since 2017. Disarmament talks between North Korea and the U.S. have remained stalled since a summit between Kim and Trump collapsed in 2019.

Further Reading

N.Korea tests biggest missile since 2017, U.S. calls for talks (Reuters)

N. Korea confirms test of missile capable of striking Guam (Associated Press)