North Korea fired a ballistic sea-to-surface missile on Saturday, South Korean military chiefs said hours after the United States warned of the possibility of continuing Pyongyang’s nuclear testing in the next few weeks.
This is the 15th demonstration of force this year for the nuclear-armed nation, which has also launched an intercontinental ballistic missile for the first time since 2017.
This new launch will come before South Korea’s new president, Yoon Suk-yeol, takes office on Tuesday, favoring the balance of power in the North, and highlighting fears of an increase.
The U.S. State Department warned Friday that there could be a nuclear test from this monthbased on satellite imagery.
Detected by our soldiers around 2:07 p.m. [heure locale] that a short-range ballistic missile believed to be a strategic sea-to-surface missile was fired from the sea outside Sinpo, South Hamgyongthe South Korean army general said in a statement on Saturday.
Sinpo is an important maritime base in North Korea. Satellite images showed the presence of submarines there in the past.
The missile traveled a distance of 600 km at an altitude of 60 km, according to the South Korean military, suggesting that it was a short-range ballistic missile.
It ended its operation outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone, Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi said, adding that very high frequency This year’s tests are completely unacceptable.
ang remarkable development of nuclear and missile technology of Pyongyang poses a threat to regional and global security, he said, adding that Japan also believes that North Korea will be ready to conduct a nuclear test earlier this month.
In April, in a major military parade, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un vowed to build his nuclear forces as soon as possible and warned of possible strikes preventivementioned by the future president of South Korea, Yoon Suk-yeol.
US President Joe Biden is scheduled to visit Japan and South Korea this month, where concerns about Pyongyang are on the menu.
The most recent launch of the missile can be attributed to this visit or to the inauguration on Tuesday by Mr. Yoon, who promised an inflexible line facing North.
Instead of accepting invitations for dialogue, the Kim regime seems to be preparing to test a tactical nuclear warhead.said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul.
Missile war between the two Koreas
North Korea conducted six nuclear tests before engaging in high-level diplomacy with the United States, where former U.S. President Donald Trump met four times with Kim Jong-un.
The seventh nuclear test will be the first since September 2017 and will boost tensions on the Korean peninsula, raising the risks of miscalculation and miscommunication between the Kim regime and the future Yoon administration.added Mr. Easley.
South Korea has more conventional weapons capacity than its northern neighbor and Mr. Yoon for deploying more US military assets.
South Korea tested its own ballistic sea-to-ground missile in 2021, becoming one of the few countries to have mastered this technology. He also launched a supersonic cruise missile, highlighting an arms race on the peninsula.
On Wednesday, Pyongyang launched what Seoul and Tokyo described as a ballistic missile, but North Korean state media, which typically reports on weapons tests, did not report on it.
Hong Min, a researcher at the Korea Institute for National Unification, said he thought about it on Saturday today’s launch is similar to the ballistic missile launch on Wednesday.
It seems the North is conducting a series of tests to achieve its strategic goalsHe added.
Negotiations to convince Kim Jong-un to surrender nuclear weapons have come to naught.
For five years, South Korean President Moon Jae-in pursued a policy of dialogue with Pyongyang, but according to his successor, this approach slave is an obvious failure.
According to analysts, Kim Jong-un may wish to warn, through this series of trials, that he is not open to a dialogue with the new government.
Source: Radio-Canada
