Seoul: North Korea fired a suspected hypersonic missile into the East Sea on Monday, as reported by the South Korean military. This marks the first provocation of the year from North Korea, occurring just before the inauguration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) detected the launch at approximately 12 p.m. from the Pyongyang area. The missile, suspected to be an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM), traveled some 1,100 kilometers before landing in the sea. Although the missile did not reach the typical IRBM range of 3,000 to 5,500 km, it is believed to possess characteristics akin to North Korea's previous intermediate-range hypersonic missiles launched last January and April.
If confirmed as a hypersonic missile, this launch would represent the longest-range flight by such a North Korean missile. The timing of this event coincides with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken's visit to Seoul for discussions on deterring North Korean threats amid South Korea's political unease following President Yoon Suk Yeol's unsuccessful martial law attempt.
South Korean officials have expressed concern that North Korea may exploit the political instability to intensify military activities and escalate tensions across the border. The JCS emphasized a strong South Korea-U.S. combined defense posture, vowing to monitor North Korean activities closely to prevent any misjudgment of the security situation. They condemned the launch as a "clear provocation."
This missile launch also occurs two weeks prior to Trump's inauguration on January 20. North Korea last conducted missile tests on November 5, firing multiple short-range ballistic missiles into the East Sea just before the U.S. presidential election. At a year-end party meeting, North Korea announced its intention to implement the "toughest" counteraction strategy towards the United States, criticizing the military cooperation between South Korea, the U.S., and Japan as a "military bloc for aggression."