North Korea returned to its well-worn playbook Wednesday after a nearly monthlong lull in missile testing, firing off what Japan said was an apparent intercontinental ballistic missile-class weapon in a dramatic show of force as Prime Minister Fumio Kishida was set to meet South Korean leader Yoon Suk-yeol on the sidelines of a NATO summit.
Japan's Defense Ministry said the missile had been fired from North Korea's interior at around 9:59 a.m., flying about 1,000 kilometers for 74 minutes before splashing down about 250 km west of Hokkaido's Okushiri Island — outside Japan's exclusive economic zone (EEZ), which extends 200 nautical miles (370 km) from its coast.
The 74-minute flight time was the longest yet for a North Korean missile, the ministry said, with the weapon believed to have been fired on a "lofted trajectory" that saw it hit a maximum altitude of about 6,000 km — far higher than the 400-km average orbiting altitude of the international space station.
The launch was the North's first since June 15, when it sent two ballistic missiles into Japan’s EEZ in waters off Ishikawa Prefecture, further ramping up tensions after a failed satellite launch at the end of May. The North has vowed to conduct a second satellite launch as soon as possible.
The Japanese government's top spokesman condemned the launch, adding that a Defense Ministry measure to shoot down any missile or debris that threatens Japanese territory had not been activated. That measure was put in place following the attempted satellite launch.
"North Korea has consistently shown that it is working to strengthen its nuclear and missile capabilities, and we believe that it may continue to launch various types of missiles, conduct nuclear tests and engage in other provocations in the future," Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told a regular news conference.
Pyongyang's last long-range missile launch came on April 13, when it fired off one of its most advanced weapons, a Hwasong-18 solid-fuel ICBM. That launch prompted Japan to briefly issue an evacuation warning for residents of Hokkaido via its J-Alert system.
In an twist of irony, Wednesday's missile launch appeared to have forced the cancellation of a nationwide test of the J-Alert system scheduled for 11 a.m.
The launch was thought to have been timed to send an apparent message to Tokyo and Seoul, hours ahead of a meeting between Kishida and Yoon on the sidelines of a NATO leaders' summit in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius.
Bolstered cooperation in reining in Pyongyang's nuclear and missile ambitions — an issue that has helped form a foundation for improving ties between Japan and South Korea — were expected to be at the top of their agenda.
The North has a history of timing "its shows of force to disrupt what it perceives as diplomatic coordination against it," said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul.
Wednesday's launch also came a day after Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, accused the U.S. of “illegally” sending spy planes into its EEZ eight times, delivering an implicit warning just after the country warned Monday that further flights could be shot down.
Experts said the North Korean regime was looking to use the spy plane fights — which the U.S. said followed international law — as a rationale for testing its increasingly powerful missiles. EEZs differ from territorial waters and airspace, which extends 12 nautical miles from a country's coast, in that the zones do not confer sovereignty, but give nations special access to exploiting marine resources within them.
"Kim Yo Jong’s bellicose statement against U.S. surveillance aircraft is part of a North Korean pattern of inflating external threats to rally domestic support and justify weapons tests," said Easley.
The nuclear-armed country has fired off around 100 missiles since the beginning of last year — a tally that the North could add to this month when it marks the 70th anniversary of the signing of the Korean War armistice on July 27.
The Kim regime has been known to stage shows of force on or around key anniversaries, and preparations have already begin for a large-scale military parade to mark the armistice, a national holiday in the North.
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