North Korea conducts its 1st ICBM launch in 3 months after making threat over alleged US spy flights

North Korea conducted its first intercontinental ballistic missile test in three months two days after it threatened “shocking” consequences to protest what it called provocative U.S. reconnaissance activity near its territory.

Afghan Voice Agency (AVA)_Monitoring, Some experts say North Korea likely tested its developmental, road-mobile Hwasong-18 ICBM, a type of solid-fuel weapon that is harder to detect and intercept than the North’s other liquid-fuel ICBMs. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un previously called the Hwasong-18 his most powerful nuclear weapon, The Associated Press reported.

A long-range North Korean missile fired from its capital region around 10 a.m. flew about 1,000 kilometers at a maximum altitude of 6,000 kilometers before landing in waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan, according to South Korean and Japanese assessments. They said the missile was launched on a high angle, in an apparent attempt to avoid neighboring countries.

South Korea’s military called the launch “a grave provocation” and said the South Korean and U.S. authorities agreed to maintain robust, combined defense postures.

Chief Japanese Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno also denounced North Korea over its repeated ballistic missile launches as “threats to the peace and safety of Japan, the region and international society.”

The launch came as South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida were visiting Vilnius, Lithuania, to attend this week’s NATO summit. In an emergency security council meeting convened in Lithuania, Yoon told officials that North Korea must face consequences over its provocation. Matsuno said Kishida asked him to prepare for a security council meeting over the launch.

Wednesday’s launch came after North Korea earlier this week released a series of statements accusing the United States of flying a military plane close to North Korea to spy on the North.

The U.S. and South Korea dismissed the North’s accusations and urged it to refrain from any acts or rhetoric that raised animosities.

In a statement Monday night, Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, warned the United States of “a shocking incident” as she claimed that the U.S. spy plane flew over the North’s eastern exclusive economic zone eight times earlier in the day. She claimed the North scrambled warplanes to chase away the U.S. plane.

In another fiery statement Tuesday, Kim Yo Jong said the U.S. military would experience “a very critical flight” if it continues its illicit, aerial spying activities. The North’s military separately threatened to shoot down U.S. spy planes.