An additional shot marking the lack of a truce. North Korea fired a short-range ballistic missile into the sea on Sunday (January 1), the South Korean army reported on the same day, quoted by South Korea’s Yonhap agency.
That first shot on the first day of 2023 came from the Yongseong district in the capital Pyongyang and landed in the Sea of Japan, Yonhap said, citing the South Korean general staff. The day before, on New Year’s Eve, North Korea had already fired three ballistic missiles towards South Korea.
The official North Korean press also claimed Sunday that leader Kim Jong-un has ordered the development of new ICBMs and the mass production of tactical nuclear weapons to counter threats from the United States and China to South Korea.
These comments, made during the ruling Labor Party’s rally, were leaked in the wake of the new shooting. Kim Jong-un stressed the need to strengthen North Korea’s nuclear arsenal and secure “overwhelming” military might to protect the country’s sovereignty and security, official KCNA news agency said. He accused Washington and Seoul of staging a “conspiracy” to “isolate and suffocate” North Korea.
Increased tensions
Military tensions on the Korean peninsula have risen sharply in 2022, with North Korea conducting tests almost monthly, including launching its most advanced ICBM.
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This first North Korean launch of 2023 also follows the incursion of five North Korean drones into southern airspace earlier last week. The North Korean incursion was the first such incident in five years and prompted an apology from Seoul’s defense minister after its air force failed to shoot down a single drone despite dispatching about twenty fighters for a five-hour mission.
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