North Korea fires second ballistic missile in six days ahead of Korea-U.S. drills

North Korea fired a ballistic missile from the Wonsan area in Kangwon toward the East Sea on Wednesday, marking its second provocation in six days following a launch last Thursday.

The latest launch is seen as part of Pyongyang's efforts to improve the capabilities of various types of ballistic missiles under leader Kim Jong-un's policy of advancing nuclear and conventional weapons in parallel.

South Korean and U.S. military authorities detected a ballistic missile launched from the Wonsan area at around 6 a.m. toward the East Sea, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said. The missile flew more than 700 kilometers (435 miles), according to the JCS.

Japan's Ministry of Defense said the missile reached a maximum altitude of 90 kilometers and flew about 690 kilometers before landing outside Japan's exclusive economic zone. 

The missile is believed to have been either a medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM) with a range of 1,000 to 3,000 kilometers, or the Hwasong-16B intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) with a range of 3,000 to 5,500 kilometers.

North Korea has typically reported maximum altitudes of between 90 and 100 kilometers for its IRBMs. The Hwasong-11A, a short-range ballistic missile (SRBM), is believed to reach a maximum altitude of around 50 to 60 kilometers.

In April 2024, North Korea described the Hwasong-16B as a "new-type intermediate-range solid-fuel ballistic missile" equipped with a hypersonic glide vehicle warhead. With a maximum range of more than 3,000 kilometers, the missile could put U.S. military bases across Japan and the U.S. territory of Guam within striking distance.

Pyongyang said at the time that it had "limited the range to within 1,000 kilometers in consideration of safety.” It raised the possibility that it deliberately shortened the range again in Wednesday's launch.

Another possibility is that North Korea launched a Hwasong-11 series, or KN-23, SRBM fitted with a glider-type hypersonic glide vehicle as its warhead.

North Korea also launched a ballistic missile from the Wonsan area on Thursday but did not disclose details of the launch the following day. Military authorities assessed at the time that the missile's flight characteristics differed from those of a conventional ballistic missile.

"It is possible that North Korea tested the gliding flight characteristics of a short-range hypersonic missile such as the Hwasong-11E at the time, then fired it to its maximum range six days later," Shin Jong-woo, secretary general of the South Korea Defense and Security Forum, said.

Wednesday's launch may also have been intended as a protest against the South Korea-U.S. Ulchi Freedom Shield, a joint military exercise and training set to begin Monday. North Korea has long denounced South Korea-U.S. combined exercises as war drills.

Against this backdrop, the South Korean government joined Japan and other countries in a U.S.-led joint statement targeting China's recent submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) test. With North Korea repeatedly criticizing Japan's recent moves toward rearmament, the divide in Northeast Asia between South Korea, the United States and Japan on one side and North Korea, China and Russia on the other is becoming increasingly pronounced. 

“Recent missile testing activity in the Pacific area did not follow the standard practices adopted by most states to notify and deconflict intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), SLBM, and space launch vehicle (SLV) launches,” the U.S. State Department said in a statement Tuesday.

Although the statement did not name a specific country, it appears to have been aimed at China, given that the Chinese military test-fired an SLBM in international waters in the Pacific on July 6.

“Conducting nuclear-capable ballistic missile tests without sufficient advance notice and detail is dangerous and disrupts the peace and security of relevant nations in proximity to these tests,” the statement continued.

A total of 41 countries, including the United States, South Korea and Japan, joined the statement.

"We have consistently emphasized the importance of strengthening advance notification mechanisms regarding ballistic missiles and related activities, and we joined this joint statement based on that principled position," South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

BY LEE YU-JUNG, SHIM SEOK-YONG [kim.jiye@joongang.co.kr]