Just days before the South Korean presidential election, North Korea conducted its ninth gun test of the year on Saturday, firing a suspected ballistic missile towards the sea in the east of the Korean Peninsula.
The launch was condemned by governments in the United States, South Korea and Japan, which fear that the North is preparing for a major arms campaign test in coming months.
With denuclearization talks stalled, North Korea conducted a record number of missile launches in January, and after a pause for more of February, resumption of tests with a launch on February 27.
He seems to be preparing to launch a spy satellite in the close future and suggested he could resume testing of nuclear weapons or its longest-range intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) for the first time since 2017.
“The important pace where North Korea is developing son missile launch system technology is not something that our country and surrounding regions can ignore,” Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi said after the latest launch.
In South Korea, where citizens are already early casting votes before of In Wednesday’s presidential elections, the National Security Council (NSC) condemned North Korea’s “unprecedented rehearsal”. firing of ballistic missiles” as going against peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula.
South Korea will “even more closely monitor North Korea’s nuclear and missile-related facilities,” including its main nuclear reactor facility at Yongbyon and nuclear weapons at Punggye-ri test side said the NSC, according to a statement from the presidential Blue House.
It wasn’t right away clear what motivated the increased surveillance of nuclear sites.
On Friday, the American company 38 North project, which monitors North Korea, said that operations in Yongbyon are in full swing, produce fuel for potential nuclear weapons and an expansion of its nuclear production facilities.
Punggye-ri has been closed since North Korea declared a moratorium auto-imposed on nuclear weapons testing in 2018. Leader Kim Jong Un, however, said he no longer felt bound by the moratorium as denuclearization talks stalled.
South Korea reported a series of smallnatural earthquakes near Punggye-ri yearshighlighting what experts say is geological instability caused speak last and the most grand nuclear test in 2017. Experts have also said instability would not necessarily prevent North Korea from resuming testing at the site.
Missile tests
The US State Department condemned latest toss as a violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions, which imposed sanctions on North Korea over his weapons programs.
The launch demonstrates the menace What do North Korea’s illicit weapons represent? of mass destruction and missile programs ask his neighbors and the region in son together, a State Department spokesperson said.
South Korean military said Saturday’s launch came from a location near Sunan, where Pyongyang is located international the airport is located. the region was the site of previous tests, including the last launch on On February 27, when North Korea said it had tested systems for a reconnaissance satellite.
Kishi said the North Korean projectile reached a height of 550 kilometers (340 miles) and flew 300 kilometers, as the South Korean military’s estimate of of 560 kilometers in altitude and 270 kilometers distance.
The launch highlights the challenges facing whoever wins Wednesday’s presidential election in South Korea.
Both leading the candidates have said they will unveil roadmaps to try to relaunch stalled talks, but have also raised the prospect of a harder line going from more openly calling the North’s missile tests “provocations” to development more military capacity for preventive strikes if necessary to counter a menace imminent.
Analysts say North Korea could use the next presidential transition in South Korea or a big national holiday on April 15 to launch a satellite or test-fire an important new missile or other weapon.
“The moment of North Korea’s missile tests may seem strange to usGiven the global to concentrate on Ukraine,” said Washington-based Wilson Center fellow Jean Lee. on Twitter. “But it’s totally logical in North Korea, where scientists are concentrating on perfect new weapons for Kim at show off at big military parade in half April.”
The United States has said it is open to talks without preconditions, but Pyongyang says the talks are just possible after Washington and its allies drop hostile policies.
Just days before the South Korean presidential election, North Korea conducted its ninth gun test of the year on Saturday, firing a suspected ballistic missile towards the sea in the east of the Korean Peninsula.
The launch was condemned by governments in the United States, South Korea and Japan, which fear that the North is preparing for a major arms campaign test in coming months.
With denuclearization talks stalled, North Korea conducted a record number of missile launches in January, and after a pause for more of February, resumption of tests with a launch on February 27.
He seems to be preparing to launch a spy satellite in the close future and suggested he could resume testing of nuclear weapons or its longest-range intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) for the first time since 2017.
“The important pace where North Korea is developing son missile launch system technology is not something that our country and surrounding regions can ignore,” Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi said after the latest launch.
In South Korea, where citizens are already early casting votes before of In Wednesday’s presidential elections, the National Security Council (NSC) condemned North Korea’s “unprecedented rehearsal”. firing of ballistic missiles” as going against peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula.
South Korea will “even more closely monitor North Korea’s nuclear and missile-related facilities,” including its main nuclear reactor facility at Yongbyon and nuclear weapons at Punggye-ri test side said the NSC, according to a statement from the presidential Blue House.
It wasn’t right away clear what motivated the increased surveillance of nuclear sites.
On Friday, the American company 38 North project, which monitors North Korea, said that operations in Yongbyon are in full swing, produce fuel for potential nuclear weapons and an expansion of its nuclear production facilities.
Punggye-ri has been closed since North Korea declared a moratorium auto-imposed on nuclear weapons testing in 2018. Leader Kim Jong Un, however, said he no longer felt bound by the moratorium as denuclearization talks stalled.
South Korea reported a series of smallnatural earthquakes near Punggye-ri yearshighlighting what experts say is geological instability caused speak last and the most grand nuclear test in 2017. Experts have also said instability would not necessarily prevent North Korea from resuming testing at the site.
Missile tests
The US State Department condemned latest toss as a violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions, which imposed sanctions on North Korea over his weapons programs.
The launch demonstrates the menace What do North Korea’s illicit weapons represent? of mass destruction and missile programs ask his neighbors and the region in son together, a State Department spokesperson said.
South Korean military said Saturday’s launch came from a location near Sunan, where Pyongyang is located international the airport is located. the region was the site of previous tests, including the last launch on On February 27, when North Korea said it had tested systems for a reconnaissance satellite.
Kishi said the North Korean projectile reached a height of 550 kilometers (340 miles) and flew 300 kilometers, as the South Korean military’s estimate of of 560 kilometers in altitude and 270 kilometers distance.
The launch highlights the challenges facing whoever wins Wednesday’s presidential election in South Korea.
Both leading the candidates have said they will unveil roadmaps to try to relaunch stalled talks, but have also raised the prospect of a harder line going from more openly calling the North’s missile tests “provocations” to development more military capacity for preventive strikes if necessary to counter a menace imminent.
Analysts say North Korea could use the next presidential transition in South Korea or a big national holiday on April 15 to launch a satellite or test-fire an important new missile or other weapon.
“The moment of North Korea’s missile tests may seem strange to usGiven the global to concentrate on Ukraine,” said Washington-based Wilson Center fellow Jean Lee. on Twitter. “But it’s totally logical in North Korea, where scientists are concentrating on perfect new weapons for Kim at show off at big military parade in half April.”
The United States has said it is open to talks without preconditions, but Pyongyang says the talks are just possible after Washington and its allies drop hostile policies.