North Korea tests more ballistic missiles 0:46
(CNN) --
North Korea's suspected launch of a powerful intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) failed Thursday, according to a South Korean government source.
Pyongyang stepped up its battery of missile tests against the backdrop of US and South Korean military exercises that had been scheduled to end on Friday.
However, just hours after the alleged test failure, Washington and Seoul agreed to extend those large-scale exercises until an unknown date, according to a statement from the South Korean Air Force, which said "it was necessary to demonstrate a strong security posture." combined defense of the bilateral alliance under the current security crisis, accentuated by the provocations of North Korea”.
The joint exercises, dubbed "Storm Watcher," began Monday and involve 240 aircraft and "thousands of military personnel" from both countries, according to the US Department of Defense.
North Korea had opposed such drills in statements issued this week, before ratcheting up tensions on the peninsula with a barrage of weapons tests on Wednesday and Thursday.
Alleged ICBM test
The suspected ICBM was launched from North Korea's west coast at around 7:39 a.m. local time and flew some 750 kilometers (466 miles) before landing in the Sea of Japan, also known as the East Sea. east of the Korean peninsula, Japan's Defense Ministry said.
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The South Korean government source said officials suspect it was a Hwasong-17, North Korea's most advanced intercontinental ballistic missile that was first successfully tested on March 24.
That launch set a new standard for Pyongyang, recording the highest altitude and longest duration of any North Korean missile ever tested.
The missile reached a maximum altitude of 6,248.5 kilometers (3,905 miles) and flew a distance of 1,090 kilometers (681 miles), according to a report by the Korean Central News Agency at the time.
Flight time was 68 minutes, the report added.
However, a South Korean government source told CNN that officials believe the missile fired Thursday only managed to separate in the second stage and appears to have failed after that, falling into the sea between the Korean Peninsula and Japan. .
Thursday's launch reached a maximum altitude of about 2,000 kilometers (1,242 miles), according to Japan's Defense Ministry, less than a third of the record height set in March.
In Japan, the alleged launch of the ICMB prompted warnings to seek refuge in the northern prefectures of Miyagi, Yamagata and Niigata, where it was expected to fly over, the prime minister's office initially said.
Japan's Defense Ministry later assessed that the missile did not cross the country.
Following the alleged ICBM test, North Korea conducted two short-range ballistic missile launches, according to South Korea and Japan.
In a statement on Thursday, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said Pyongyang's repeated launches "of ballistic missiles are a serious provocation that damages peace and stability not only of the peninsula from Korea but also from the international community.”
Thursday's tests came just hours before US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met with his South Korean counterpart Lee Jong-sup at the Pentagon.
US National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said in a statement Thursday that Washington "strongly condemns" North Korea's ballistic missile tests.
She said they were a "blatant violation of multiple UN Security Council resolutions and unnecessarily heighten tensions and risk destabilizing the security situation in the region."
North Korean missiles
An image of a Hwasong-17 launch on March 24, 2022, as reported by North Korean state media.
The Hwasong-17 has been described by North Korean state media as a "powerful nuclear war deterrent."
It could, at least theoretically, put the entire continental US within range of a North Korean nuclear warhead, but there are many unknowns about the missile's ability to deliver a nuclear payload on target.
However, it is large enough to carry a nuclear weapon, or possibly multiple nuclear weapons, according to experts.
Thursday's launches bring the number of North Korean missile tests to at least 30 so far this year, according to a CNN tally, though the number of individual missiles is much higher.
Weapons fired include cruise missiles and ballistic missiles.
The latter account for the vast majority of North Korea's tests this year.
There are substantial differences between these two types of missiles.
A ballistic missile is launched using a rocket or rockets, then travels out of the Earth's atmosphere, glides into space before re-entering, and then descends solely on gravity to its target.
A cruise missile is powered by a jet engine, remains within the Earth's atmosphere during its flight, and is maneuverable with aircraft-like control surfaces.
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Cruise missiles have smaller payloads than ballistic missiles, so it would require a smaller nuclear warhead than a missile designed to hit the continental United States, such as an ICBM.
United Nations Security Council resolutions prohibit North Korea from testing ballistic missiles, but such a restriction does not apply to cruise missile tests.
North Korea's ability to deploy a nuclear warhead on any type of missile is unproven.
short-range missile record
On Wednesday, North Korea launched at least 23 short-range missiles of various types at the east and west of the Korean peninsula, according to the South Korean Defense Ministry.
It was the most North Korean short-range missiles fired in a single day, and included a ballistic missile that landed near South Korean territorial waters for the first time since the division of Korea, according to the JCS.
That missile struck international waters 167 kilometers (104 miles) northwest of South Korea's Ulleung Island, about 26 kilometers south of the Northern Limit Line (NLL), the de facto inter-Korean maritime border that North Korea does not recognize. .
Seoul responded Wednesday by launching three air-to-ground missiles from F-15K and KF-16 fighter jets, targeting an area the same distance north of the NLL.
North Korea is launching missiles at an "unprecedented frequency," Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters on Wednesday.
US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield condemned North Korea's unprecedented missile launch, telling CNN the UN would "press" China and Russia to improve and tighten such sanctions.
CNN's Brad Lendon and Michael Conte contributed reporting.
missile launch