North Korea fires three missiles after Biden ends Asia trip

TOKYO — North Korea fired a suspected intercontinental ballistic missile early Wednesday that flew only briefly before landing in the sea east of the Korean Peninsula, South Korea’s military said.

The missile was one of three fired by North Korea hours after President Biden flew home from Asia following talks with the leaders of Japan and South Korea on deterring Pyongyang’s missile and nuclear threat.

U.S. government officials had warned that North Korea appeared ready to fire an ICBM around the time of Mr. Biden’s trip to Asia. They also said Pyongyang was primed to hold its seventh test detonation of a nuclear bomb.

South Korea’s military said the North fired three missiles from the Sunan airfield near Pyongyang around 6 a.m. The suspected ICBM flew as high as 335 miles and traveled around 224 miles, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said.

A North Korean ICBM launched in March reached 3,700 miles in altitude and traveled 680 miles.

South Korea said a second missile launched Wednesday exploded shortly after launch and a third short-range missile crashed into the sea. Japan’s coast guard confirmed two apparent missiles landed in the sea between the Korean Peninsula and Japan.

Though North Korea didn’t conduct weapons tests while Mr. Biden visited Seoul and Tokyo through Tuesday, China and Russia held a joint strategic-bomber exercise near Japan on Mr. Biden’s last day in Tokyo.

North Korea has conducted more than a dozen missile tests this year, including the full-range ICBM launch in March and the launch of a ballistic missile from a submarine earlier this month. The latest launches come as North Korea reports a nationwide outbreak of Covid-19 that leader Kim Jong Un has called the nation’s worst-ever crisis.

Weapons experts say that even when North Korean missile tests appear to fail or fall short of their goals, engineers gain knowledge that can advance the country’s weapons program. Launches of missiles that don’t fly long distances can also be used to test components of larger weapons.

Missiles fired on Feb. 26 and March 4 with relatively short flight times tested components of a new ICBM system, U.S. officials said.
 

South Korea said it detected signs of the latest North Korean launches in advance and test-fired surface-to-surface missiles with the U.S. military in a move to show their readiness.

Japan’s defense minister, Nobuo Kishi, said after Wednesday’s launches that North Korea’s missile tests ”pose a threat to the peace and security of Japan, the region and the international community, and are absolutely unacceptable.”

U.S. Indo-Pacific Command in Hawaii said in a brief statement that the missiles didn’t pose an immediate threat to U.S. personnel or territory, or to U.S. allies, but highlighted the destabilizing impact of the North’s weapons program.

While in Seoul over the weekend, Mr. Biden agreed with new South Korea President to begin planning the resumption of joint military field exercises with South Korea and pledged that the U.S. would be prepared to send nuclear-capable military assets such as bombers to Korea if Seoul faced a crisis with the North.

In Tokyo, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told Mr. Biden that Japan is committed to increasing military spending and developing capabilities to hit back at enemy missile bases that threaten Japan.

The U.S., South Korea and Japan have all sought talks with North Korea and say they would be willing to provide Pyongyang with aid to help it cope with the Covid outbreak. North Korea hasn’t responded to any of the outreach.

Pyongyang has been gradually expanding its military arsenal since talks on denuclearization broke down in 2019 following an unsuccessful summit in Hanoi between Mr. Kim and then-U.S. President Donald Trump.

Chieko Tsuneoka and Dasl Yoon contributed to this article.

Write to Alastair Gale at alastair.gale@wsj.com