“We Can’t Take It Any Longer”: Fierce International Reactions to North Korea’s 6 Missile Launches

North Korea launched six more missiles today. This was reported by the international news agency AP. The missile launches began this morning with a failed attempt to launch an ICBM (Intercontinental Ballistic Missile or Long-Range Missile). According to the South Korean military, the long-range missile flew in an elliptical orbit about 7,602 km high, at an altitude of 1,920 km and at a speed of Mach 15 (15 times the speed of sound). The distance measured on Earth’s surface is much shorter, about 750 km. South Korean news agency Yonhap talks about the failed missile because the missile’s flight path was very different after the second intercept.

After the (failed) ICBM launch, North Korea launched two more short-range missiles. The short-range projectiles “flew at Mach 5 at an altitude of about 350 kilometers,” the South Korean military said. On the South Korean island of Ulleungdo, about 120 kilometers east of the Korean peninsula, sirens sounded for the second day in a row, local media reported. The missile launch sparked outrage between the US and South Korea, which immediately retaliated with joint military exercises.