North Korea tested its most powerful missile on Sunday since 2017, ramping up the firepower for its record-breaking seventh launch this month as Seoul warned nuclear and long-range tests could be next.
Pyongyang has not tested so many missiles in a single calendar month and threatened to blow off its self-imposed moratorium on testing long-range and nuclear weapons, blaming the United States hostile policies for forcing its hands.
With the peace talks with Washington stalled, North Korea is apparently doubling down on Kim Jong Un’s promise of modernizing its armed forces.
South Korea said on Monday that Pyongyang is following a similar pattern it did back in 2017 when tensions were sky-high in the peninsula and expressed concern that North Korea could soon start testing nuclear weapons and long-range intercontinental missiles.
Following an emergency meeting of Seoul’s National Security Council, South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in said that North Korea has come close to destroying the moratorium declaration.”
South Korea’s military said on Sunday that it had “detected an intermediate-range ballistic missile fired at a lofted angle eastward towards the East Sea.” The missile is estimated to have hit a maximum altitude of 2000kms and flown for 800kms an hour. The lofted angle of the missile suggests that it was not fired to its maximum range, the South Korean military officials said.
“North Korea did similar tests with its emerging medium and long-range missile technology in 20 17,” tweeted Chad O’Carroll of specialist website NK News. “So this would imply today’s test involves one of those missile types — or potentially something new. In other words, a big deal.”
The last time Pyongyang tested an intermediate-range missile was the Hwasong-12 in 2017, which analysts said at the time was powerful enough to put the US territory of Guam in range.
Many argue that Sunday’s launch could be a prelude to bigger provocations from North Korea such as nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles that could threaten the US mainland. Pyongyang is apparently flexing its high-end arsenal to further the pressure on Washington to win sanction relief or international recognition as a legitimate nuclear state.
North Korea’s state media has said that the tests were intended to verify the range and capability of the missile, not to threaten its adversaries.