South Korean Military North Korea's Missile Launch Value As A Provocation

North Korea's heavy-fueled hypersonic missile test, which was directly supervised by Kim Jong-un in April 2024. (Source: KCNA)

JAKARTA - The South Korean military saw North Korea's missile launch on Monday as a provocation, with the alleged hypersonic missile being fired.

North Korea fired a suspected hypersonic missile into the East Sea on Monday, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said, becoming Pyongyang's first provocation this year.

JCS said it detected an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) launch which was thought to have been around 12 noon from the Pyongyang region and the missile flew about 1,100 kilometers before falling into the waters.

Although the missile's flying range is less than 3,000 to 5,500 km usually covered by the IRBM, the missile is thought to have characteristics similar to North Korea's medium-range hypersonic missile launched in January and April last year, an JCS official said.

If confirmed to be a hypersonic missile, it will be the furthest range covered by similar North Korean missiles.

"Under the strong joint defense posture of South Korea-US, our military will closely monitor North Korea's various activities so that it is not wrong to assess the current security situation," the JCS said in a message to reporters, condemning the launch as a "clear provocation," quoted from The Korea Times on January 6.

The launch comes as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Seoul to negotiate with his South Korean counterpart on efforts to prevent Pyongyang's threat, amid political turmoil in the Ginseng Country over a political chaos sparked by President Yoon Suk-yeol's imposition of martial law last December 3.

South Korean officials have warned North Korea could take advantage of the political crisis by engaging in military activity and increasing cross-border tensions.

The latest threat also comes two weeks before US President-elect Donald Trump takes office on January 20.

North Korea last fired several short-range ballistic missiles into the East Sea on November 5, just before the US Presidential election.

In a year-end party meeting, North Korea said it would implement a "heavyest" countermeasure against the United States, claiming military cooperation between South Korea, the US and Japan has grown into a "military bloc for aggression."