The Pentagon and South Korea issued a joint warning to the Kim Jong-Un regime on Thursday after North Korea carried out several missile tests on Wednesday and Thursday, including the test of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that was heading toward northern Japan before disappearing in mid-flight.
"Any nuclear attack against the United States or its allies and partners, including the use of non-strategic nuclear weapons, is unacceptable and will result in the end of the Kim regime," U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Thursday in a joint press conference with South Korean Defense Minister Jong-Sup Lee.
North Korea reportedly fired up to 20 missiles on Wednesday, followed by the ICBM launch and the test of two short-range missiles on Thursday.
The Kim Jong-Un regime launched the ICBM at about 7:40 a.m. local time, according to a statement from the South Korea Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The ICBM flew for about 760 kilometers and reached a height of about 1,920 kilometers but appeared to have failed mid-flight, Yonhap reported.
The North's launches led Japan's government to declare a rare emergency alert on Thursday to residents of its northern regions, telling them to stay indoors.
Tokyo initially said the missile had flew over Japan, but Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada later said it did "not cross the Japanese archipelago but disappeared over the Sea of Japan."
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida condemned North Korea's "repeated missile launches," calling the an "outrage," the BBC reported.
North Korea conducted the missile tests amid the Operation Vigilant Storm joint air force exercises between the U.S. and South Korea. The U.S. and South Korea announced an extension of the exercises after North Korea's missile tests.
In early October, North Korea reportedly flew 12 warplanes near the South Korean border. The sortie included eight fighter jets and four bombers. South Korea responded with a flight of 30 warplanes, but the two groups did not engage.
According to a Nov. 1 report by Geostrategy-Direct.com, North Korea late last month fired two short-range ballistic missiles toward Japan that landed in the sea.
It was the latest of dozens of missile tests this year carried out by the Kim Jong-Un regime. No nation in the region takes such threats more seriously than Japan.
To deter the North Korea threat, Japan is reportedly in talks with the United States about buying Tomahawk cruise missiles.
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