SEOUL: North Korea has conducted its longest ever intercontinental ballistic missile test as Seoul warned Pyongyang could seek missile technology from Moscow in exchange for deploying forces to help with the conflict in Kyiv, Reuters reported.
Reuters reported that the missile has been launched on a sharply lofted trajectory from an area close to the North Korea’s capital city as well as splashed down about 300 km west of Japan’s Hokkaido, recording the North’s longest ever ICBM flight time.
The muscle-flexing by North Korea came a day following South Korea reported signs the North Korea may test-launch an ICBM around the presidential election in the US on Tuesday, seeking to draw focus to its rising military prowess.
North Korea has said that it had conducted ‘crucial’ ICBM test to boost nuclear deterrent, the official Korean Central News Agency reported. The recent launch also drew swift criticism from Seoul, Tokyo and Washington, coming amid increasing global alarm over N Korea reportedly dispatching thousands of forces to Moscow to support its war in Kyiv, according to Reuters news agency.
“It is thought the N Korea ballistic missile is a long-range ballistic missile fired at a very high angle,” South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff claimed in a statement. Japan, and South Korea said that the missile recorded a flight-time of around 87 minutes, longer than the last ICBM test launch in last year December which clocked at around 73 minutes.
The trajectory has also reached an altitude of 7,000 km as well as flew a distance of 1,000 km, the Tokyo said said, terming it an ICBM-class missile. However, Reuters cited a US official as saying that the missile was an ICBM.
