North Korea fires first suspected ICBM since 2017

The suspected ICBM flew to an altitude of 6,000 kilometers (3,728 miles) and to a distance of 1,080 kilometers (671 miles) with a flight time of 71 minutes before splashing down in waters off Japan’s western coast on Thursday, according to Japan’s Defense Ministry.Thursday’s launch is North Korea’s 11th of the year, including Kim Dong-yub, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, said data indicates Thursday’s missile could have a maximum range of about 15,000 kilometers (9,320 miles) — theoretically putting it within reach of the continental United States, depending on the weight of the warhead it would carry — and about 3,000 kilometers (1,864 miles) further than the Hwasong-15.Despite the potentially extended range, Kim said Pyongyang has still yet to demonstrate its ability to master the technology required to enable a warhead to successfully re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere into the final stages of flight.US response Pyongyang’s other most recent launches, on February 26 and March 4, were likely intended to test a new ICBM system, the US Defense Department said earlier this month.The US Indo-Pacific Command announced earlier this month that the US is intensifying “intelligence, readiness and surveillance collection activities” related to North Korea following the recent missile launches.The move is a signal from the Biden administration that it needs to strengthen its military posture to ensure the US and allies in the region like South Korea and Japan are protected against North Korea’s missile tests.The command said they have “ordered intensified Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance collection activities in the Yellow Sea, as well as enhanced readiness among our ballistic missile defense forces in the region.”Earlier this month, the US military staged exercises on and around the Korean Peninsula to show its readiness in the wake of North Korean activity, including simulating ballistic missile defense systems.The US Army’s 35th Air Defense Artillery Brigade moved to a remote location, “occupying its wartime defensive position, emplacing the Patriot missile system, and executing air and missile defense operations under a simulated combat scenario,” US Forces Korea said in a press release.And at sea, F-35 and F/A-18 fighter jets flying off the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln along with US Air Force assets based in the region put on a show of force in the Yellow Sea off the western coast of South Korea, according to a statement from the US Navy’s 7th Fleet in Japan.This story has been updated to clarify the location of missile.