NKorea launches ICBM before Yoon-Kishida meet

North Korea test-launched an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on Thursday, just hours before the leaders of South Korea and Japan were to meet at a Tokyo summit that is expected to be overshadowed by North Korean nuclear threats.

Pyongyang’s first ICBM test in a month and third weapons test this week also comes as South Korean and United States troops continue joint military exercises that the North considers a rehearsal to invade.

The missile flew about 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) with a maximum altitude of 6,000 km (3,730 mi) during the 70-minute flight, according to South Korean and Japanese assessments. That’s similar to the flight details from a February launch of another ICBM, which experts said demonstrated a potential range to reach deep into the US mainland.

The missile fell in the waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan after being launched on a steep trajectory, apparently to avoid neighboring countries. Japan said the missile landed outside its exclusive economic zone and that there were no reports of damage of ships and aircraft.

North Korea is yet to test ICBMs on a standard trajectory, but it has repeatedly claimed it possesses functioning nuclear missiles. Some foreign experts still doubt the North has mastered the technologies needed to build warheads small enough to be placed on those missiles and protect the warheads during atmospheric reentry.

US National Security Council spokesman Adrienne Watson said Washington would take all necessary measures to ensure the security of the American homeland and its allies Seoul and Tokyo. The launch “needlessly raises tensions and risks destabilizing the security situation in the region,” she added.

Before heading to Tokyo for a summit with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said “North Korea’s reckless provocations will pay the clear price.”

During an emergency security meeting on the North Korean launch, Yoon instructed the South Korean military to thoroughly proceed with its ongoing exercises with US forces, conduct some of the planned joint drills in an intensive manner and strengthen Seoul-WashingtonTokyo security cooperation, according to Yoon’s office.

In Tokyo, Kishida said: “We must further strengthen cooperation among the allies and likeminded countries.”

The Yoon-Kishida summit was arranged after Yoon’s government last week took a major step toward repairing bilateral ties strained by Japan’s 1910–45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula. The South Korean plan — to use local funds to compensate some of the colonial-era forced labor victims without contributions from Japanese companies that employed them — has met fierce domestic opposition, but it reflects Yoon’s resolve to boost Seoul-Tokyo-Washington security cooperation.

Yoon’s Tokyo trip faced domestic opposition for allegedly rushing historical reconciliation in the interest of improving relations with Japan,” said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in South Korea’s capital Seoul. “North Korea’s ICBM test on the day of the Yoon-Kishida summit may have been intended to aggravate those politics, but instead makes patently clear the need for deepening security cooperation among US allies.”

US President Joe Biden welcomed the South Korean plan as a major step toward enhancing the partnership between two of America’s closest allies, which together host about 80,000 US troops. Washington has sought stronger alliances in Asia to deal with China’s rise and North Korean threats.

North Korea’s pursuit of an expanded nuclear arsenal has pushed South Korea and Japan to seek to boost their security partnerships with the US, as both countries are within striking distance of North Korean nuclear-capable missiles. Last October, North Korea fired an intermediaterange missile over northern Japan, forcing communities there to issue evacuation alerts and halt trains.