FAA Briefly Halts Flights After Reported North Korean Missile Launch

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) halted all flights at West Coast airports briefly on Monday following reports of a North Korean ballistic missile fired into the Sea of Japan.

The order lasted approximately seven minutes, according to reports regarding the San Diego International Airport. Newsweek reported:

Sabrina LoPiccolo, spokeswoman for the airport, told Newsweek that the airport was instructed by air traffic of a national ground stop about 2:30 p.m. Pacific time. No reason was given for the stop, which lasted about five to seven minutes, she said.

“We really don’t have any more details,” she said.

#ICYMI FAA issues ground stop, North Korea ballistic missile test suspected reason.
Flights Briefly Grounded at West Coast Airports Over Suspected North Korean Missile Test. https://t.co/3RsIINVZt8

— @Mike_Coletta (@Mike_Coletta) January 11, 2022

Sacramento media also noted the stopped flights on Monday.

“An on-duty manager at SFO told KCRA 3 an order from the Federal Aviation Administration came around 2:50 p.m. to halt all planes and lasted five minutes. The manager said it was a nationwide issue,” KCRA reported.

“A representative with Sacramento International Airport said after 3:15 p.m. that flights were grounded for a period but had since returned to normal,” it added.

The single ballistic missile was launched from the North Korean Jagang province.

“North Korea fired what appears to be a single ballistic missile toward its east coast on Tuesday morning, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said, evaluating later in the day that the missile appears to be more ‘advanced’ than the one launched last week,” NK News reported.

“The DPRK launched the likely ballistic missile at 7:27 a.m. KST from Jagang province, from which the country launched its last two “hypersonic” missiles, according to the JCS. The projectile traveled more than 435 miles (700 km) at a maximum speed of around Mach 10, reaching an apogee of 37.3 miles (60 km),” it added.

The missile launch is in addition to a “hypersonic” missile test by North Korea last week.

“Today’s test might be intended to send a message to the South after authorities here said the earlier test was a failure and did not involve a hypersonic missile,” Kim Dong-yup, a former South Korea Navy officer who now teaches at Seoul’s Kyungnam University, said regarding the previous week’s launch, according to Reuters.

It is unclear how the U.N will respond to the recent missile launches. Last October, the U.N. Security Council reportedly called for an emergency meeting to take place after North Korea said it successfully launched a ballistic missile from a submarine. The Daily Wire previously reported:

“North Korea test-fired a new, smaller ballistic missile from a submarine, state media confirmed on Wednesday, a move that analysts said could be aimed at more quickly fielding an operational missile submarine,” Reuters reported. “The statement from state media came a day after South Korea’s military reported that it believed North Korea had fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) off its east coast, the latest in a string of North Korean missile tests.”

CBS Evening News host Norah O’Donnell reported that the U.N. Security Council had called for an emergency meeting over the incident.

“The U.N. Security Council has just announced that it will hold an emergency meeting after North Korea launched a new ballistic missile,” O’Donnell said. “These are the first pictures of what the North Koreans say is a missile being launched from a submarine, which would be a major advance for the country’s military.”

“And the timing could be deliberate, President Biden’s special envoy for North Korea will reportedly meet with allies in South Korea about reviving those nuclear talks with Kim Jong Un,” she added.

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