Two recent missile tests conducted by North Korea were of a new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) system, the Pentagon said Thursday, marking what one US official called a “serious escalation” that will be punished with fresh sanctions.
According to North Korea, the February 26 and March 4 tests were focused on developing a reconnaissance satellite, but the Pentagon said rigorous analysis concluded they were actually experimental precursors to a likely full-range ICBM launch.
Any such launch would mark the end of a self-imposed moratorium Pyongyang has had in place since 2017 and send military tensions soaring on the Korean peninsula and beyond.
The North has carried out three ICBM tests; the last in November 2017 of a Hwasong-15—deemed powerful enough to reach Washington and the rest of the continental United States.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the recent two tests “involved a new intercontinental ballistic missile system” that Pyongyang had first showcased at a military parade in October 2020.
While neither launch displayed ICBM range or capability, they were clearly intended “to evaluate this new system before conducting a test at full range in the future, potentially disguised as a space launch,” Kirby said.
South Korea confirmed the US assessment, saying the two countries—key security allies in the region—“had decided to make the assessment public, judging that the international community needs to make a united stance” against Pyongyang.
Japan’s defense ministry said it had also reached the same conclusion, adding that the February launch had an altitude of up to 600km (370 miles) and travelled about 300km, while the March launch had an altitude of up to 550km and also travelled about 300km.
It called the tests a “threat to peace and security… that can never be tolerated.”
Prior to its ICBM tests in 2017, the North had carried out a series of powerful rocket launches that it insisted were part of a wider civilian space program.
Those launches were made from the Sohae Satellite Launching Station on the northwest coast, and North Korea’s official KCNA news agency reported Friday that leader Kim Jong Un visited the facility and ordered that it be expanded and modernized – a move that will only fuel speculation of an imminent, disguised ICBM test.
North Korea is already under biting international sanctions over its missile and nuclear weapons program.
But a senior US official said that the latest tests were a “serious escalation” and the Treasury would announce fresh measures on Friday to help prevent Pyongyang accessing “foreign items and technology” to advance that program.