The flurry of launches comes days after North Korea tested a new ICBM designed to reach the US mainland. Japan’s Defense Ministry said that there were no immediate reports of damage.
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North Korea said it tested a new intercontinental ballistic missile on Thursday morning, a launch believed to have achieved the longest flight time yet for a North Korean missile.
The new “perfected” Hwasong-19 missile was launched just days before the United States presidential election on Tuesday, and after warnings from South Korea’s intelligence agency that Pyongyang was planning to launch an ICBM to test its reentry technology around the time of the vote.
The test also comes as North Korea appears to have intensified its nuclear production efforts and strengthened ties with Russia, deepening widespread concern in the West over the isolated nation’s direction.
North Korea on Friday said the new Hwasong-19 missile reached a maximum altitude of 7,688 kilometers (4,777 miles) and flew a distance of 1,001 kilometers (622 miles).
“The test of the latest strategic weapon system … demonstrated the modernity and creditability of its world’s most powerful strategic deterrent,” the country’s state-run KCNA news outlet said in a commentary.
