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Bloomberg
North Korea fired at least two suspected medium-range ballistic missiles from near a site that a few days ago it tested a new solid-fuel rocket engine that could enhance its ability to launch quick-strike, longer-range missiles for delivering nuclear warheads.
Two medium-range ballistic missiles were launched from the Tongchang county area, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said. Japan’s Defense Ministry said the projectiles travelled a distance of about 500 kilometres (310 miles), reached an altitude of about 550 km and landed outside of the country’s exclusive economic zone.
It was uncertain whether North Korea used the new engine in the missiles it fired. The flight paths of a medium-range missile could hit almost all of Japan.
Solid-fuel missiles are quick to deploy and can be easier to hide, giving the US and its allies less time to see signs of a launch and prepare interceptors. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has been modernising his arsenal over the past several years, and has rolled out new, nuclear-capable, short-range ballistic missiles that can strike US military bases in all of South Korea and parts of Japan.
The new solid-fuel engine could be used for the country’s Pukguksong series of submarine-launched ballistic missiles — a two-stage, nuclear-capable rocket that has a range to hit all of Japan. It could also be used for longer-range projectiles, including possible intercontinental ballistic ones that could deliver a nuclear warhead to the US mainland.
The US Indo-Pacific Command said in a statement that it was aware of the ballistic missile launch, which, while it does not pose an immediate threat to
the US, “highlights the destabilising impact†of North Korea’s weapons program.
South Korea’s presidential office convened a National Security Council meeting to discuss the launches, calling them an outright violation of UN Security Council resolutions and warning Pyongyang it will “rightly pay the price,†Yonhap reported.
This year, Kim Jong-un’s regime has already fired off more than 65 ballistic missiles, the most in his decade in power and in defiance of United Nations resolutions that prohibit the launches. He has stepped up provocations in recent months in a display of anger at joint military drills in the region by the US and its allies, South Korea and Japan.
Kim was on hand to oversee the test of the solid-fuel rocket engine, state media said.