Live-fire drill with the US supposed to be a show of strength, but ended in embarrassment and caused alarm among nearby residents
South Korea’s military has apologised after a missile it launched during a drill on Tuesday malfunctioned and crashed to the ground, causing alarm among nearby residents who thought they were under attack from North Korea, which had test launched a missile earlier in the day.
The live-fire drill, involving South Korea and the US, was supposed to be a show of strength by the allies, hours after the North sent an intermediate-range missile over northern Japan.
Instead, it ended in embarrassment when a short-range Hyumoo-2 ballistic missile crashed to the ground inside an air force base near the South Korean coastal city of Gangneung.
Although the missile did not explode, the noise and subsequent fire caused some Gangneung residents to believe the North had launched an attack, according to media reports. There were no reports of injuries.
The South Korean military acknowledged the accident hours after internet users posted videos showing an orange ball of flames emerging from an area they described as near a Gangneung air force base.
The military said it was investigating what had caused the “abnormal flight” of the South Korean missile – a key part of its preemptive and retaliatory strike strategies against the North.
The accident occurred as the South Korean and US militaries fired a volley of missiles into the East Sea – also known as the Sea of Japan – in response to North Korea firing a ballistic missile over Japan for the first time in five years.
The nuclear-armed state launched an intermediate-range ballistic missile that flew for a record distance of 4,600km (2,850 miles) at n altitude of 1,000km, in its most provocative weapons demonstration in years. That range puts the US Pacific territory of Guam, homes to American military bases, within striking distance.
The missile landed in the Pacific Ocean about 3,200km east of Japan.
Japan’s government issued an alert urging residents to take cover as the missile passed high over the northernmost main island of Hokkaido and Aomori prefecture.
The US and South Korean militaries fired two ATACMS short-range ballistic missiles into the water “to precisely strike a virtual target,” the Joint Chiefs of Staff said.
The drills “showed the ability and readiness to neutralise the origin of the provocation while maintaining a constant monitoring posture,” it said in a statement.
On Tuesday, South Korean and US fighter jets had carried out a bombing drill at a target in the Yellow Sea.
The drills aim to “make sure that we have the military capabilities at the ready to respond to provocations by the North if it comes to that,” US national security council spokesperson John Kirby told CNN.
“It shouldn’t come to that. We have made it clear to (North Korean leader) Kim Jong-un we’re willing to sit down with no preconditions. We want to see the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula,” he said.
“He hasn’t shown an inclination to move in that direction – and quite frankly he’s moving in the opposite direction by continuing to conduct these missile tests, which are violations of Security Council resolutions.”
Pyongyang’s latest launch is part of a record year of sanctions-busting weapons tests by the isolated regime, which recently revised its laws to declare itself an “irreversible” nuclear power.
US president Joe Biden and Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida condemned North Korea’s latest launch “in the strongest terms”.
South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol called the launch a “provocation”, and vowed a “stern response”.
The Tuesday test was Pyongyang’s fifth missile launch in 10 days. North Korea does not routinely comment on its weapons tests in state media.
South Korean and US officials have been warning for months that Kim is preparing to conduct another nuclear test, saying last week that this could happen soon after Pyongyang’s key ally China holds a Communist party congress from 16 October.
US vice-president Kamala Harris visited Seoul last week and toured the heavily fortified demilitarised zone that divides the Korean peninsula, on a trip to underscore her country’s commitment to South Korea’s defence.
About 28,500 US troops are stationed in South Korea to help protect it from the North.