In its latest weapons fire, North Korea launched an unidentified ballistic missile into the sea off South Korea's east coast, Seoul's military reported Monday, April 22, in the latest development in an apparent set of tests. carried out by Pyongyang in 2024.
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“North Korea fired an unidentified missile into the East Sea,” South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff reported this Monday, April 22, referring to the sea also known as the Sea of Japan.
Japan also confirmed the launch. “A suspected ballistic missile was launched from North Korea,” the Japanese Defense Ministry published in X.
The Japanese coast guard, citing the Defense Ministry, said shortly after the initial announcement that it appeared the missile had already fallen.
Japanese media outlets, including public broadcaster NHK, reported that the suspected missile landed outside Japan's Exclusive Economic Zone, citing unnamed government sources.
NK News, a specialized media based in Seoul, indicated that the “short flight time, probably less than ten minutes, suggests that the launch involved a short-range ballistic missile (SRBM) or a 600-pound multiple launch rocket system.” millimeters (MLRS).
The latest launch comes after Russia ended UN monitoring and sanctions against nuclear-weapon North Korea with its Security Council vote last month.
Read also“It better responds to our interests,” says Russia after vetoing monitoring of sanctions on North Korea
Moscow, an ally of Pyongyang, used its veto power in the UN Security Council to end monitoring of violations of the set of sanctions imposed on Kim Jong-un's government for its nuclear and weapons program.
“Super large warhead” test
On Friday, April 19, North Korea tests “super-large warhead” designed for a strategic cruise missile, according to state media. The Seoul military confirmed that it had detected cruise missile launches around the same time.
Unlike their ballistic counterparts, cruise missile tests are not prohibited by current UN sanctions against North Korea.
Cruise missiles typically operate on jet propulsion and fly at lower altitudes than more sophisticated ballistic missiles, making them more difficult to detect and intercept.
Analysts interviewed by AFP have warned that North Korea could be testing cruise missiles with the aim of sending them to Russia for use in Ukraine. Washington and Seoul claim that Kim Jong-un has already sent weapons to Moscow, despite explicit UN prohibitions.
Seoul claims Pyongyang has sent around 7,000 container loads of weapons to Moscow for the war in Ukraine.
North Korea, a country isolated by most UN member states, has strengthened its military ties with Russia and, in April, thanked Moscow for its veto to prevent the renewal of the existence of a UN panel of experts that They monitored the international sanctions imposed.
It has also increased weapons testing, stating at the beginning of the month that it had tested a new medium- to long-range solid-fuel hypersonic missile.
This year, Pyongyang declared South Korea its “main enemy,” expelled organizations dedicated to the reunification of the two Koreas and threatened to declare war with a minimum of “0.001 millimeters” of transgression of its territory.
Last year, North Korea carried out a record number of missile tests, defying UN sanctions put in place in 2006 and despite warnings from Washington and Seoul.
Pyongyang declared itself an “irreversible” nuclear weapon state in 2022.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who was in Seoul last month, will return to the region this week for his second visit to China in less than a year.
With AFP
This article was adapted from its original in English
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