North Korea Conducts Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Launch

On Thursday, North Korea conducted its first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launch in a month. Its neighbors suspect that it was testing a new type of more mobile, harder-to-detect weapon system, marking an extension of the country's provocative run of missile tests. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff revealed that the missile was launched at a high angle from near the North Korean capital of Pyongyang and fell in the waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan after a 620-mile flight. If the launch involved a solid-fuel ICBM, it would be the North's first test of such a weapon. Solid-propellant missiles are harder to detect as the fuel is already loaded inside the weapon, unlike liquid-fueled missiles that require fuel injection before launch. North Korea's previous ICBM tests all involved liquid-fueled weapons.

Concerns over North Korea's nuclear missile launches have been voiced by the United States, Japan, and South Korea. The most recent launch was described as an ICBM-class weapon by the Japanese Defense Minister and as a long-range missile by the U.S. National Security Council. A northern island received an evacuation order from Japanese officials, which was later withdrawn. After reviewing his nation's attack strategies and promising to upgrade his nuclear weapons in more "practical and offensive" ways during a military summit, Kim Jong Un launched the missile a few days later. On a number of cross-border inter-Korean hotlines, South Korean calls have gone unanswered for about a week, which has alarmed South Korean officials. The hotlines are designed to stop unintentional collisions along the disputed western maritime border between the two parties.

North Korea's advancing nuclear arsenal is expected to be a major topic during a summit between South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and U.S. President Joe Biden later this month in Washington. The South Korean government has been seeking stronger U.S. assurances that it will use all its military capabilities, including nuclear, to protect South Korea in the event of a North Korean nuclear attack.