In announcing the results of the Korea-Japan summit on North Korea's missile launch, Prime Minister Kishida said, "There is no change in the fact that the window for dialogue with North Korea is open," and President Yoon Seok-yeol showed a difference, saying, "Cooperation between South Korea, the United States and Japan and South Korea and Japan is very important."
Prime Minister Kishida’s statement said, “In response to North Korea’s further promotion of nuclear and missile activities, including this morning’s ICBM-class ballistic missile launch, the deterrence and response capabilities of the US-Japan and ROK-US alliances will be further strengthened, and South Korea-Japan and South Korea-US-Japan 3 It confirmed the importance of strongly promoting security cooperation among countries. There is no change in the fact that the window for dialogue with North Korea is open,” he stated on the 17th.
President Yoon’s statement said, “North Korea launched a long-range ballistic missile in violation of Security Council resolutions.” It was stated that it coincided,” and has nothing to do with the’North Korea dialogue’.
North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said on the 16th, "The strategic weapon firing drill serves as an opportunity to send a stronger warning to the enemies who are intentionally raising tensions on the Korean peninsula while persistently relying on irresponsible and reckless military threats." announced the launch of an ICBM into the sea between
Reuters reported, “North Korea said on the 16th that the launch was the largest Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launched during the exercise to show a’strong response posture’ to the ongoing ROK-US military drill.”
Reuters said, "On the 13th, the ROK and US forces started a 23-day joint exercise called 'Freedom Shield 11', which was held on a scale not seen since 2017 to respond to the growing threat from North Korea." China, which has a defense pact, also blamed the US for the current tensions, saying it was due to Washington's efforts to increase pressure on Pyongyang."
Regarding the launched Hwasong-17, Reuters said, “It is North Korea’s largest missile ever and the world’s largest road-mobile liquid-fueled ICBM, believed to have the range to potentially deliver nuclear warheads to targets across the United States.” It was launched from Pyongyang Airport, KCNA said, traveling from a maximum altitude of 6,045 km (3,756 miles) to 620 km, flying a distance of more than 1 hour and 10 minutes before falling into the open sea. The launch did not pose a safety threat to neighboring countries, the report said. ” reported.
The Ministry of Defense of Japan announced that North Korea launched an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) missile eastward from the west coast around 7:09 am on the 16th, flew for about 1 hour and 10 minutes, and then flew west from Oshima Island in Hokkaido at around 8:19 am. It is estimated to have fallen outside Japan's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), which is about 200 km away, and announced that day with a high-altitude launch with a flight distance of about 1,000 km and a maximum altitude of over 6,000 km.
The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff announced on the same day that it had detected that North Korea fired a long-range ballistic missile into the East Sea from the Sunan area of Pyongyang around 7:10 am on the 16th.