People watch a TV showing a file image of North Korea’s missile launch during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, on Sunday, the North’s seventh missile test this month.
Ahn Young-joon/AP
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Ahn Young-joon/AP
People watch a TV showing a file image of North Korea’s missile launch during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, on Sunday, the North’s seventh missile test this month.
Ahn Young-joon/AP
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea on Sunday fired what appeared to be the most powerful missile it has tested since U.S. President Joe Biden took office. The launch possibly breached a self-imposed suspension on the testing of longer-range weapons, as it revives its old playbook in brinkmanship to wrest concessions from Washington and neighbors amid a prolonged stalemate in diplomacy.
The Japanese and South Korean militaries said the missile was launched on a lofted trajectory, apparently to avoid the territorial spaces of neighbors, and reached a maximum altitude of 2,000 kilometers (1,242 miles) and traveled 800 kilometers (497 miles) before landing in the sea.
The flight details suggest the North tested its longest-range ballistic missile since 2017, when it twice flew intermediate-range ballistic missiles over Japan and separately flight-tested three intercontinental-range ballistic missiles that demonstrated the potential range to reach deep into the American homeland.