South Says North Korea Fired A Suspected Ballistic Missile Into Sea

According to the South Korean and Japanese armies, North Korea recently fired a suspected ballistic missile into the sea in the first such launch in nearly two months. That is also a sign that Pyongyang has no interest in resuming denuclearization talks anytime soon. However, they focus on rather increasing their weapons arsenal.

The news about the missile launch arrived after North Korean leader Kim Jong. That occurs during the previous week’s high-profile conference of the ruling party. UN promised to bolster its military capabilities without revealing any new policies towards the United States or South Korea.

South Korea’s JCS stated that North Korea fired a suspected ballistic missile into the eastern sea. They noted that intelligence authorities in ‘Seoul and Washington’ were investigating further information.

According to the South Korean presidential palace, South’s presidential national security team members expressed concern over the incident in an emergency videoconference. They note taking up a dialogue with the North, which is important in resolving tensions.

The Ministry of Defense of Japan also detected the North Korean launch and pointed out that the hermetic country had fired a missile.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters that they find it regrettable that North Korea has continued launching missiles since last year. He also added that no further details, such as where it landed and if it caused damage, were available at the moment.

North Korea made a series of weapons tests between September and November. Experts described it as an attempt to increase pressure on its rivals to accept it as a nuclear power with the hope of achieving relief from nuclear power. The tests revealed that they launched a ballistic missile from a submarine. There is another hypersonic in development. Since military exercises with artillery fire in early November, Pyongyang had suspended its activity.

The US government has reiterated and staged its willingness to resume nuclear negotiations ‘whenever and wherever without any preconditions. The North has rejected those proposals so far with a note that Washington’s hostility has not changed.

In his New Year’s speech, Outgoing South President Moon Jae-in said that he would continue to seek ways to restore relations with the neighboring country. He also promoted peace on the Korean Peninsula until May’s end of his term.

Over differences over how much sanctions should reduce in exchange for dismantling North Korea’s main nuclear complex. The United States led diplomacy to convince North Korea to abandon its nuclear program, which collapsed in 2019. Kim has threatened since then to increase his nuclear arsenal despite the suffering of the country’s economy. These led to major setbacks from the COVID pandemic, persistent US sanctions, and misdirection.

Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul, expressed their willingness to talk about denuclearization or its interest in a declaration by the end of the Korean war. North Korea implies that neither the omicron variant nor the food shortages in the country will deprive its aggressive missile development.

According to a professor, Kim Dong-yub, at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, Pyongyang, tested a hypersonic missile or a nuclear-capable KN-23 with very controlling, low-trajectory flight.