SEOUL—North Korea fired an intercontinental ballistic missile and two short-range ballistic missiles on Thursday, triggering emergency warnings for Japanese citizens in northern prefectures to seek shelter, Seoul and Tokyo officials said.
The ICBM launch is the latest North Korean weapons provocation during a historic year of missile tests that have significantly escalated tensions in the region. The Thursday activity came a day after Pyongyang fired nearly two dozen missiles off its east and west coasts—including one that triggered air-raid alerts on a South Korean island—in what was a record number of launches for a single day.
The ICBM was fired from the Sunan area in the outskirts of Pyongyang at around 7:40 a.m. local time, Seoul’s military said. It flew around 472 miles, reaching an altitude of 1,193 miles. Then, at 8:39 a.m., two short-range ballistic missiles were fired from Kaechon, north of Pyongyang. Those two missiles traveled about 205 miles, reaching an altitude of 43 miles.
Based on the flight trajectory, the ICBM appears to have suffered some type of malfunction, weapons experts said, as such a long-range missile would have typically reached a much higher altitude before falling. Japanese authorities lost radar tracking midflight, further pointing to a failed launch. Seoul’s military said it was still analyzing the ICBM launch.
On Thursday, Japan initially believed a missile may have flown over its territory, triggering evacuation warnings in three prefectures expected to have been in the flight path. Tokyo officials later concluded that the missile hadn’t flown over the country. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida called the recent ballistic missile launches an “outrageous act.” South Korea’s National Security Council said the continued provocations would only further isolate the North Korean regime.
The U.S. condemned North Korea’s Thursday launches as a flagrant violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions and called on the country to engage in serious dialogue, according to a statement from National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson.
Confusion clouded the Kim Jong Un regime’s ICBM activity earlier this year, too. One test on March 16 failed, with a projectile exploding shortly after launch. About a week later, Pyongyang flew what it touted as its next-generation Hwasong-17 missile, championing the achievement in a glitzy video that featured Mr. Kim wearing sunglasses and a bomber jacket. Weapons experts suspect it wasn’t new technology but a prior-generation Hwasong-15 missile with a lighter payload.
Still, the ICBM successfully launched on March 24 reached a peak altitude of more than 3,700 miles—more than three times that of Thursday’s test—and covered roughly 200 more miles in distance.
Mr. Kim has previously stated a desire to develop a more powerful ICBM, though the Hwasong-15’s range is capable of hitting the U.S. mainland. But unlike its long-range tests five years ago, Pyongyang hasn’t drawn retribution from allies in Moscow and Beijing, which had responded to the major provocations by agreeing to additional sanctions at the United Nations Security Council.
Neither Russia nor China backed extra penalties from the March ICBM launch and have even advocated that sanctions be relaxed.
On Wednesday, the Kim regime fired nearly two dozen missiles, including one that flew south of the disputed inter-Korean maritime border—a first-time occurrence. South Korea launched its own missiles in response.
North Korea has multiple purposes for its weapons tests, including internal development, boosting local morale and external messaging. But the activity this weekend appeared to be aimed more at taking corresponding measures to ongoing military exercises between Washington and Seoul, said Hong Min, a senior researcher at the Korea Institute for National Unification, a government-funded think tank in Seoul.
The ICBM showcased on Thursday is capable of targeting Guam, where the nuclear-powered USS Key West submarine is usually stationed. The U.S. vessel recently was seen anchored in the South Korean port city of Busan. In addition, the surface-to-air missiles a day earlier appeared to be responding to joint U.S.-South Korea air drills.
“North Korea wants to show they are not intimidated by the allied exercises, and the long-range tests signal they continue to work on perfecting ICBM technology,” Mr. Hong said.
North Korea faced widespread condemnation after launching a missile over Japan last month.
The launches came after North Korea demanded in recent months that the U.S. and South Korea stop large-scale military exercises. Washington and Seoul this week have been conducting air exercises involving hundreds of warplanes. In response to North Korea’s ongoing provocations, the two countries decided to extend the drills, which were set to end on Friday, to an unspecified date in the future, Seoul’s military said.
U.S. and South Korean officials have said North Korea has completed preparations for its first nuclear test since 2017. In September, Mr. Kim declared he would never abandon his nuclear weapons, passing a law enshrining the right to use pre-emptive nuclear strikes to protect itself.
Pyongyang watchers say North Korea is increasingly conducting a variety of missile tests to force the U.S. to accept the Kim regime as a nuclear power to negotiate economic concessions from a position of strength.
“The Kim regime may relish international anxiety in the lead-up to its next nuclear detonation, believing that greater global attention will hasten begrudging acceptance of North Korea as a nuclear weapons state,” said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor of international studies at Ewha University in Seoul.
—Chieko Tsuneoka in Tokyo contributed to this article.
Write to Dasl Yoon at dasl.yoon@wsj.com
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