North Korea has fired a ballistic missile into the sea at the same time the top United States diplomat was holding meetings in the South Korean capital, Seoul.
South Korea’s military said the missile was launched eastward at about noon (03:00 GMT) shortly after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with South Korean Acting President Choi Sang-mok.
“Our military detected one projectile presumed to be an intermediate-range ballistic missile,” the military said.
After the missile flew about 1,100km (680 miles), before landing in waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan, the military said Seoul “strengthened surveillance and vigilance” for any more launches.
The missile appeared to have fallen into the water, according to Japan. Seoul was “in close coordination with the US and Japan” about the launch, the South’s military added.
Japan’s Ministry of Defense said the missile landed outside its exclusive economic zone and that there were no reports of damage to vessels or aircraft.
Both Blinken and South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul condemned the launch at a joint news conference, with Washington’s top diplomat calling it “another violation of multiple UN Security Council resolutions”.
Monday’s launch was Pyongyang’s first since November 5 when it fired at least seven short-range ballistic missiles off its east coast.
Al Jazeera’s Patrick Fok, reporting from Seoul, said the timing of the missile firing was “significant” for several reasons.
“It’s taking place just a couple of weeks ahead of Donald Trump taking office in the US,” he said. “This [missile launch] is also important because North Korea has been relatively quiet since this political crisis [the failed coup attempt in December] has unfolded here.”
South Korean legislators last month voted to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol and suspend him from duties after his December 3 declaration of martial law stunned the country. Yoon’s impeachment trial is being heard by the Constitutional Court, while South Korean investigators have sought a warrant to arrest the former leader.
‘Iron-clad commitment’
The US Secretary of State reiterated the “ironclad commitment” of Washington to defending South Korea and spoke with acting President Choi about “how both sides will work together to further strengthen bilateral cooperation and trilateral cooperation with Japan”, a State Department statement said.
Until briefly imposing martial law on December 3, Yoon had been a darling of President Joe Biden’s administration for his pro-US policies on the global stage.
Yoon delighted the US by seeking to turn the page on decades of friction with Japan, a fellow US ally that is also home to thousands of US troops.
Yoon joined Biden and Japan’s then-prime minister Fumio Kishida in 2023 for a landmark three-way summit at the Camp David presidential retreat that included a promise to step up intelligence cooperation on North Korea.
Choi’s office said in a statement that South Korea remained committed to the “principles and agreements from the Camp David summit”.
The acting president “stated that South Korea will continue to maintain its diplomatic and security policies based on a strong Korea-US alliance and trilateral cooperation among South Korea, the US and Japan”.
North Korea and Russia cooperation
Blinken said Monday that the US believed Russia was expanding space cooperation with North Korea in exchange for its troop contribution in fighting Ukraine.
“The DPRK [North Korea] is already receiving Russian military equipment and training. Now we have reason to believe that Moscow intends to share advanced space and satellite technology with Pyongyang,” Blinken said.
Blinken said more than 1,000 North Korean troops have been killed or injured in the war on Ukraine.
Moreover, Blinken said the US believed that Russia “may be close” to formally accepting North Korea’s status as a nuclear power.
