SEOUL (AFP) – North Korea fired two suspected ballistic missiles yesterday, Seoul said, its fourth weapons test this month as Pyongyang flexes its military muscle while ignoring offers of talks from the United States (US).
Despite biting international sanctions, Pyongyang has conducted a string of weapons tests this year, including of hypersonic missiles, as leader Kim Jong-un pursues his avowed goal of further strengthening the military.
Reeling economically from a self-imposed coronavirus blockade, impoverished North Korea has not responded to Washington’s offers of talks, while doubling down on weapons tests and vowing a “stronger and certain” response to any attempts to rein it in.
The launches come at a delicate time in the region, with North Korea’s sole major ally China set to host the Winter Olympics next month and South Korea gearing up for a presidential election in March.
Two suspected “short-range ballistic missiles” were fired east from an airport in Pyongyang early yesterday, the South Korean military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said, with Japan also confirming the launch.
Fired just before 9am, they flew 380 kilometres at an altitude of 42 kilometres, the JCS added.
The frequent and varied tests this year indicate North Korea “is trying to improve its technology and operational capability in terms of covert actions”, Japanese Defence Minister Nobuo Kishi told reporters.
Pyongyang said it successfully tested hypersonic gliding missiles on January 5 and 11, with the second launch personally supervised by Kim. In response, the US last week imposed fresh sanctions on five North Koreans connected to the country’s ballistic missile programmes, prompting an angry reaction from Pyongyang.
A North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman described the move as a “provocation”, according to state news agency KCNA.
If “the US adopts such a confrontational stance, the DPRK will be forced to take stronger and certain reaction to it”, the spokesman said hours before Pyongyang fired two train-launched missiles on Friday.
Analysts said the test yesterday also appeared to be an attempt to send the US a message.
“It is signalling that it will forge ahead with tests despite criticism,” Hong Min of the Korea Institute for National Unification in Seoul told AFP.
Hypersonic missiles are a top priority in Pyongyang’s new five-year defence development plan, unveiled in January 2021, which it has pursued while dialogue with the US remained stalled.
