North Korea fires long-range missile into Sea of ​​Japan

South Korea reported that North Korea fired a solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile into the Sea of Japan. The military action was described as a threat to international peace.

"North Korea was strongly condemned for posing a serious threat to the peace and security of the Korean Peninsula and of the international community by launching a solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile," said South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol in a statement sent to AFP after an emergency meeting of the National Security Council.

The situation was also condemned by Japan. A statement from the Japanese Ministry of Defense explained that the missile landed in waters outside the country's Exclusive Economic Zone.

"The ICBM-class ballistic missile launched this time, if calculated based on the trajectory, depending on the weight of the warhead, could have a flight range of more than 15,000 kilometres [9,320 miles]," said Shingo Miyake, Japanese parliamentary deputy defense minister.

Meanwhile, the United States expressed its concern about the situation and maintained that the launch of the ballistic missile is a violation of a series of United Nations resolutions. It is a missile capable of reaching the U.S., as Park Won-gon, professor of North Korean studies at Ewha University, explained to AFP.

"It uses solid fuel, there is no preparation time and it can be fired immediately from a mobile launcher, and it can be considered as a system that has the practical capacity to reach the American continent," said Won-gon.

"These launches, like the other ballistic missile launches Pyongyang has conducted this year, are a violation of multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions," a U.S. spokesperson said in a statement.