New provocation – neighboring countries criticize North Korea’s missile test – News

  • North Korea fired at least one suspected ballistic missile again on Saturday morning (local time), according to its neighbors South Korea and Japan.
  • According to the South Korean armed forces, the rocket was fired eastwards near the capital Pyongyang, and its flight ended after about 270 kilometers with a crash into the sea.
  • South Korea and Japan have criticized the missile test and accuse North Korea of ​​threatening their security.

It could have been a missile similar to that shot down by North Korea a week earlier, the South Korean news agency Yonhap quoted a military official as saying. At the time, experts suspected that it was a medium-range missile. Their radius of action would thus be below that of medium-range missiles with longer ranges of 2,400 to 5,550 kilometers.

North Korea resumed missile testing last Sunday after a four-week hiatus. A day later it spoke of an important test for the development of an earth observation satellite. Cameras for a new reconnaissance satellite should therefore be checked.

UN resolutions prohibit North Korea from testing ballistic missiles, which, depending on the design, can also carry a nuclear warhead. Such missiles are usually surface-to-surface missiles.

Four days before the presidential election in South Korea

The new rocket launch by the self-declared nuclear power North Korea took place just four days before the presidential election in South Korea. After a series of missile tests in January, the government in Seoul accused the isolated neighboring country of wanting to stoke new tensions on the Korean peninsula.

Missile test: Neighboring countries criticize


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South Korea’s National Security Council, in response to North Korea’s missile test, said this was a “grave time”. On the one hand because of the war in Ukraine, on the other hand because of the presidential elections in South Korea.

Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi described North Korea’s latest series of ballistic missile tests as “absolutely unacceptable”. North Korea is threatening the peace and security of Japan and the international community.

South Korea fears North Korea could soon again test an ICBM that could potentially reach the United States. The country is developing ballistic missiles of various ranges capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.

In addition, the current test overshadowed the start of this year’s plenary session of the Chinese People’s Congress in Beijing. The fact that North Korea’s ruler Kim Jong-un chose the start of the session in Beijing for his new military provocation is likely to irritate the big neighbor China.

Talks with the US have been stagnating for years

Experts have been speculating for a long time that North Korea could also use the escalating Ukraine conflict to put more pressure on the United States to submit concrete proposals for new negotiations. The US government’s talks with Pyongyang over its nuclear weapons program have been at a standstill for three years. North Korea accuses Washington of hostile policies.

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