WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th March, 2023) The United States condemned the launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) by North Korea, calling it a violation of UN Security Council resolutions.
"The United States strongly condemns the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's (DPRK) Intercontinental ballistic missile test. This launch is a flagrant violation of multiple UN Security Council resolutions. While U.S. INDOPACOM has assessed it did not pose an immediate threat to U.S. personnel, or territory, or to our allies, this launch needlessly raises tensions and risks destabilizing the security situation in the region," the White House said in a statement.
It said the United States will take all necessary measures to ensure its own security and the security of South Korea and Japan.
North Korea on Thursday morning fired an ICBM from the area of Sunan Airport in Pyongyang eastward, the South Korean military reported earlier. The missile flew for about 70 minutes and is believed to have fallen outside of Japan's exclusive economic zone, the Japanese Defense Ministry said. It covered a distance of 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) and its maximum flight altitude was 6,000 kilometers (3,728 miles).
This was the sixth launch of a ballistic missile by North Korea this year. In 2022, Pyongyang carried out 37 such launches.
South Korea and the United States on Monday started an 11-day Freedom Shield joint exercise, along with separate large-scale field maneuvers called Warrior Shield, amid Seoul's tougher rhetoric against Pyongyang.
