North Korea test-launched a suspected intercontinental ballistic missile and two shorter-range weapons toward its eastern waters Wednesday, South Korea said, hours after President Joe Biden ended a trip to Asia where he reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to defend its allies in the face of the North’s nuclear threat. The suspected ICBM didn’t fly its full range. But if confirmed, it would still be North Korea’s first test of an ICBM system in about two months amid stalled nuclear diplomacy with the United States. The launch suggests North Korea is determined to continue its efforts to modernize its arsenal despite its first COVID-19 outbreak, which has caused outside worries about a humanitarian disaster. “North Korea’s sustained provocations can only result in stronger and faster South Korea-U.S. combined deterrence and can only deepen North Korea’s international isolation,” the South Korean government said in a statement after an emergency security meeting. Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi called the launches “an act of provocation and absolutely impermissible.” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken held separate calls with his counterparts from South Korea and Japan during which they condemned the launches as a clear violation of multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions, the State Department said. Blinken noted Washington’ commitments to the defense of South Korea and Japan “remains ironclad” as the three allies continue to cooperate to achieve the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, the statement said. “(The launches) were a political message. They’re saying they feel bad” about Biden’s recent summit with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, said Chang Young-keun, a missile expert at Korea Aerospace University in South Korea. Biden and Yoon said after their meeting Saturday that they would consider expanded military exercises to deter North Korean nuclear threats. Biden brushed aside questions about any possible provocation by North Korea during his trip, saying, “We are prepared for anything North Korea does.” He later met with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Tokyo, and they vowed to work closely to address security challenges, including North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic programs and what they called China’s “increasingly coercive” behavior in the region. According to South Korea’s military, the first missile was likely an ICBM that reached a maximum height of 540 kilometers (335 miles) while traveling 360 kilometers (223 miles). The statement said the second missile disappeared from South Korean radar at some point and the third flew 760 kilometers (472 miles). Kim Tae-hyo, South Korea’s deputy national security adviser, told reporters that the first launch involved the North’s biggest Hwasong-17 missile, whose potential range includes the entirety of the U.S. mainland. He said the missile was fired at a high angle and that its launch appeared aimed at reviewing the weapon’s propellant and stage separations, though he couldn’t conclusively say whether the test was successful. He said the tests of the two other missiles, both short-range, implied North Korea’s intention to improve its ability to launch nuclear strikes on its rivals. While the North Korean launches were part of its weapons development program, they were also strategically timed to the end of Biden’s Asian visits and likely designed to test the readiness of South Korea’s new government, which took office about two weeks ago, Kim said. The flight details for the suspected ICBM were similar to those of two previous […]

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