North Korea’s suspected ‘monster missile’ explodes in mid-air

Failed launch is thought to be Pyongyang’s 10th weapons test this year

North Korea fired a suspected ballistic missile that exploded in mid-air shortly after launch, South Korea said on Wednesday.

The failed launch was likely a test of Pyongyang’s so-called “monster missile“, analysts have warned.

The suspected ballistic missile “seems to have exploded in mid-air shortly after launch,” Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff told AFP. The launch was North Korea’s 10th suspected weapons test this year.

The US said the nuclear-armed country was preparing to fire an intercontinental ballistic missile [ICBM] “at full range” for the first time since 2017.

North Korea, despite international sanctions, conducted seven missile tests in January and twice launched components of what it claimed was a “reconnaissance satellite”.

South Korea and the US said last week those tests were actually of a new ICBM system that has never been launched before. The Hwasong-17, dubbed a “monster missile” by analysts, was first unveiled at a parade in October 2020.

The launch at about 9.30am local time was from the Sunan area in Pyongyang, the same site as the February 27 and March 5 “satellite” tests.

Nuclear-armed North Korea has long coveted an ICBM that can carry multiple warheads. The US said last week the recent tests marked a “serious escalation” of the country’s weapons programmes.

But the specialist NK News site reported that Wednesday’s launch ended in “catastrophic failure” with a red-tinged ball of smoke zig-zagging across the sky as debris fell near the capital.

“Signs indicate the North test-fired Hwasong-17 today,” Cheong Seong-chang, a senior researcher at the private Sejong Institute told AFP.