North Korea launched new ballistic missiles last night for the fourth time in a week. US and South Korean officials now fear the country is planning another nuclear test.
North Korea launched two ballistic missiles this Saturday, Oct. 1, according to the South Korean army, the fourth such launch in a week after Seoul, Tokyo and Washington held trilateral anti-submarine drills on Friday.
South Korean forces said they spotted two short-range missiles fired into the Sea of Japan from the Sunan area of Pyongyang between 6:45 a.m. and 7:03 a.m. The two planes “flew (a distance) of approximately 350km at an altitude of 30km (and) at a speed of Mach 6,” according to a press release from South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, which described the footage as “seriously provocative.”
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Another nuclear test?
Japan also reported the apparent launch of two ballistic missiles and said they appeared to have completed their course outside of Japan’s Exclusive Economic Zones. According to Japanese Deputy Defense Minister Toshiro Ino, the missiles “appear to have followed erratic trajectories”. “North Korea has increased its missile attacks at an unprecedented rate,” he said.
Kim Jong Un, September 8, 2022. KCNA VIA KNS – STR
US and South Korean officials have repeatedly warned that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is preparing another nuclear test. On Wednesday, September 28, South Korean intelligence estimated it could take place between the next Chinese Communist Party Congress on October 16 and midterm elections in the United States on November 7. North Korea, subject to UN sanctions over its weapons programs, generally seeks to maximize the geopolitical impact of its tests by timing it when it sees the best. The isolated regime has tested nuclear weapons six times since 2006, most recently in 2017.
Pyongyang benefits from a divided world
Pyongyang has stepped up its banned weapons programs as talks have long stalled, conducted a record number of weapons tests this year and revised legislation to make its status as a nuclear power “irreversible”.
“North Korea’s short-range ballistic missile tests are less important than a nuclear test, but they still violate United Nations Security Council resolutions,” said Seoul University Professor Leif-Eric Ewha Ewha, adding the timing was “provocative.” Pyongyang is “rapidly modernizing its weapons and taking advantage of a world divided by the rivalry between the United States and China and Russia’s annexation of new Ukrainian territories,” he adds. “Pyongyang’s actions once again clearly show that Washington and Seoul need to step up their military deterrence, tighten economic sanctions and increase (strategic) coordination with Tokyo,” he said.