North Korea on Monday launched two new projectiles – likely ballistic missiles, according to Seoul – in its fourth weapons test since the start of the year.
Pyongyang has accelerated its weapons tests in recent weeks, with the Kim Jong Un regime seeking to strengthen the country’s military capabilities – subject to heavy international sanctions, while refusing US offers of dialogue.
The two “short-range ballistic missiles” were launched from an airport near Pyongyang on Monday shortly before 9:00 am (21:00 GMT on Sunday), and traveled 380 km at an altitude of 42 km, according to the report. Joint Chiefs of Staff of South Korea.
These new launches come at a delicate time for the region, with presidential elections set for March in South Korea, as China, North Korea’s only major ally, prepares to host the Winter Olympics next month.
The frequency and variety of the tests show that North Korea is “trying to improve its technology and operational capabilities to carry out covert actions, so that other countries have difficulties in detecting the preparatory signals of a launch”, commented the Japanese Defense Minister, Nobuo Kishi, at a press conference.
“North Korea’s remarkable development of missile technology cannot be ignored, for the security of Japan and the region,” he warned.
North Korea claimed to have successfully tested hypersonic missiles, a particularly sophisticated weapon, on January 5 and 11, the second launch being overseen by Kim Jong Un himself.
Hypersonic missiles can reach five times the speed of sound, or more. They are faster and more maneuverable than standard missiles, making them more difficult to intercept by the defense systems on which the United States spends billions of dollars.
The United States responded last week with new sanctions, what Pyongyang called a “provocation”.
– “Right reaction” –
If “the United States adopts such a confrontational attitude, the DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, North Korea’s official name) will be forced into a sure and stronger reaction,” a North Korean government spokesman warned in a statement. Friday.
In its five-year defense plan, presented in January 2021, North Korea cited hypersonic missiles as its number one priority as dialogue with the United States over its ballistics and nuclear program remains stalled.
The country is going through a serious economic crisis, exacerbated by sanctions and the closing of its borders in the name of fighting Covid-19, and the regime “needs to present something to the North Koreans”, estimates Cheing Seong-chang, from the Center for Northern Studies. -Koreans from the Sejong Institute.
Pyongyang seeks to impress the population with military innovation, as “it has become clear that the North will have to fight in the economic field”, adds this analyst.
A North Korean freight train crossed the international bridge over the Yalu River last weekend and entered China, South Korean news agency Yonhap reported. An event that could mean the resumption of trade between the two countries, suspended since the beginning of the pandemic, about two years ago.
“The timing suggests that Beijing is more than complicit in Pyongyang’s provocations,” estimates Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul. According to him, “China supports North Korea economically and coordinates with it from a military point of view.”
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