Seoul: North Korean weapons launch apparently ends in failure

The launch, the 10th of its kind this year, shows North Korea is determined to press ahead on its push to modernize its arsenal and pressure rivals into making concessions amid dormant denuclearization talks.

North Korea’s latest weapons launch on Wednesday apparently ended in failure, South Korea’ military said, amid speculation that the North could soon launch its biggest long-range missile in its most significant provocation in years.

It was not immediately clear what North Korea launched on Wednesday morning or at what stage it had an apparent failure. But the launch, the 10th of its kind this year, shows North Korea is determined to press ahead on its push to modernize its weapons arsenal and pressure its rivals into making concessions amid dormant denuclearization talks.

South Korean and U.S. intelligence authorities were analyzing details of the launch made from the Pyongyang region around 9:30 a.m. that apparently failed, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement that did not have further details.

Experts say past failures still have moved North Korea closer to its goal of acquiring a viable nuclear arsenal that could threaten the American homeland. Of eight “Musudan” intermediate-range missiles tests in 2016, only one of those launches was seen by outside analysts as successful, which led to debates of whether North Korea’s path toward ICBMs had been cut off.

However, the North in 2017 flew more powerful intermediate-range missiles over Japan and conducted three successful test-flights of ICBMs that demonstrated a potential range to strike deep into the U.S. mainland.

If North Korea makes a new ICBM launch, it would be its highest-profile weapons tests since those tests more than four years ago.

The U.S. and South Korean militaries said last week that North Korea had tested an ICBM system in two recent launches, referring to the developmental Hwasong-17 missile that North Korea unveiled during a military parade in October 2020.