North Korea’s latest missile launches an ominous development or routine testing?

TOPSHOT - A pedestrian walks past a television screen broadcasting a news report on a North Korean missile launch, in Tokyo on December 18, 2023. A missile test fired by North Korea on December 18 was an intercontinental ballistic class with a potential range covering all of the United States, Japan said. (Photo by Kazuhiro NOGI / AFP)

The launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile on Dec 18 was North Korea's fifth in 2023.

PHOTO: AFP

Wendy Teo

SEOUL – North Korea fired an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in the early hours of Dec 18 that flew about 1,000km before falling into the sea west of Japan’s Hokkaido, according to the South Korean and Japanese authorities.

It was North Korea’s fifth ICBM launch in 2023 – the highest number in a single year. It came just hours after the North launched a short-range ballistic missile on Dec 17, a move that coincided with the arrival of the US nuclear-powered submarine Missouri in the South Korean port city of Busan.

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