the japan times - North Korea fired off multiple ballistic missiles from its eastern coast on Monday, with at least two believed to have fallen into waters outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone.
The Defense Ministry in Tokyo said it had detected two separate launches. Both missiles splashed down the Sea of Japan, outside the EEZ, which extends 200 nautical miles (370 kilometers) from Japan’s shores.
The ministry said the first missile, fired at around 9:19 a.m., traveled about 220 km, reaching a maximum altitude of 20 km. The second missile, launched around 9:36 a.m., flew more than 910 km, at a maximum altitude of 70 km.
It said Japan, the United States and South Korea were working closely to analyze the details of the second launch, “including the possibility that it followed an irregular trajectory.”
South Korea’s military said it had detected the firing of several ballistic missiles from the Pyongyang area, with one of the weapons flying more than 900 km.
A spokesperson for the South Korean military said the launches may have been a response to Seoul’s first test launch of a hypersonic glide vehicle on Thursday.
“Initial analysis suggests (Monday’s launch) was seen as a protest against the successful launch of our hypersonic glide vehicle and a display of the North’s achievements under its five-year plan to bolster defense capabilities and a deliberate show of its missile capabilities,” the Yonhap news agency quoted spokesperson Jang Do-young as saying.
Jang declined to comment when asked if the missiles launched Monday were hypersonic or intermediate-range.
The launches come days after Seoul proceeded with a demining operation along the two countries’ heavily fortified border after three South Korean soldiers were injured in a land-mine blast it blamed on the North.
The North Korean Foreign Ministry said the South was attempting to “shift the blame for its own accident onto us,” and warned Seoul of retaliation if “even a millimeter” of its territory were violated.
Monday’s launches were North Korea’s fourth in about a month, coming just over a week after Pyongyang said it had tested an “intermediate-range strategic missile.”
That test — part of an exercise overseen by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un — was conducted to train soldiers operating the “hypersonic strategic weapon system” and “evaluate the reliability, efficiency and mobility” of the North’s “war deterrent,” state-run media said.
It claimed that the missile flew 1,000 km — around 300 km further than initial estimates by Tokyo and Seoul.
The distance discrepancy of what the North said was an artificial intelligence-assisted missile has raised eyebrows in Tokyo.
The nuclear-armed North has worked to develop ballistic missiles that can perform “pull-up” maneuvers, allowing them to fly on irregular paths rather than typical ballistic trajectories. The development has complicated Japanese efforts to intercept and even track these weapons.
Japan operates a nationwide automatic warning and control system to defend against ballistic missile threats. But while radar can immediately calculate the parabolic flight paths of conventional ballistic missiles based on launch angle and speed, the new missiles are equipped with new capabilities.
Some analysts say they may be able to evade detection by sharply deviating from projected flight paths or by flying at low altitudes that — due to the curvature of the Earth — render some parts of the Korean Peninsula invisible to Japan-based radar systems.