MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 17th March, 2023) Pyongyang test-fired a Hwansong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile on Thursday in response to joint military drills being held by the United States and South Korea, the state-run Korean Central news Agency (KCNA) reported on Friday.
On Thursday, Japan's Defense Ministry said that North Korea launched a suspected ballistic missile from Sunan District in Pyongyang toward the Sea of Japan. The missile flew for about 70 minutes and presumably landed at around 8:19 a.m. local time (23:19 GMT on Wednesday) 125 miles from Oshima Island in Hokkaido, outside Japan's exclusive economic zone. The missile traveled some 620 miles at an altitude of 3,728 miles, according to the Japanese military.
According to the report, the launch was held "under the grave situation in which the most unstable security environment is being created in the Korean peninsula due to the frantic, provocative and aggressive large-scale war drills conducted by the U.S. and the south Korean puppet traitors" against North Korea. The launch was also aimed at confirming the mobile and normal operation and reliability of Pyongyang's nuclear deterrent, the report said.
KCNA reported that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un personally guided the launch of the missile.