North Korea test-fired a suspected ballistic missile, adding to its barrage of launches in the past several weeks that included two rockets designed to deliver a nuclear warhead to the US mainland.
(Bloomberg) — North Korea test-fired a suspected ballistic missile, adding to its barrage of launches in the past several weeks that included two rockets designed to deliver a nuclear warhead to the US mainland.
The missile was fired Monday toward waters off the east of the peninsula, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said. Japan’s Coast Guard also said the missile appears to have fallen already. That would indicate it’s a shorter-range rocket, though further details were not immediately available.
The US and South Korea last week began their largest amphibious exercise in about five years. They are also planning to hold their largest live-fire drills in June. The exercises are certain to anger Pyongyang, which has already ramped up its provocations to new levels.
Over the weekend, North Korea’s external propaganda outlet Uriminzokkiri criticized the joint military exercises as being of an “offensive, not defensive, nature” and saying the situation on the peninsula “is bound to become more explosive.”
North Korea, which had fired 13 ballistic missiles since Feb. 18 prior to the latest launch, has for years called joint drills a prelude to an invasion and nuclear war. The US and South Korea in January announced plans to step up the scale of their joint military exercises. Japan, which North Korea regards as mortal enemy, has also joined some of the drills in recent months.
Kim Jong Un’s regime on March 16 fired what it said was a Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile hours before South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol went to Japan for a summit to repair ties and improve security cooperation with their mutual US ally. Kim said that launch was meant to “strike fear into the enemies.”
The barrage over the past several weeks has included two ICBMs able to strike the American mainland and what appeared to be a new close-range ballistic missile designed to hit US bases in South Korea. The tests also included two cruise missiles fired from a submarine, which appeared to be another first, as well as a new underwater drone to deliver a strike at sea.
Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of the leader, has warned Pyongyang would turn the Pacific into a “firing range” if the US continued drills. She also hinted the state could start testing whether its warhead designs can withstand the heat of reentering the atmosphere.
North Korea has demonstrated its missiles could fly as far as the US but there are questions as to whether the warheads would be able to stay intact to reach their targets.
–With assistance from Ryotaro Nakamaru.
(Updates with more details.)
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