The North Korean regime carried out its seventh test since the beginning of the year on Sunday. Many are worried about seeing him resume his nuclear or intercontinental ballistic missile tests.
And one more. On Sunday, North Korea carried out its seventh weapons test in the space of a month. The missile launched last night would be, according to Seoul, the most powerful since 2017, when tensions were at their height on the Korean peninsula.
The last time North Korea fired so many shots in such a short time was in 2019, after talks between its leader Kim Jong-un and then-US President Donald Trump broke down. South Korea estimated on Sunday that the North was following “a similar path” to that of 2017, and that it could soon carry out its threat to resume its nuclear or intercontinental ballistic missile tests.
Pyongyang “is close to breaking the moratorium” self-imposed nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile testing, South Korean President Moon Jae-in said in a statement. The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff indicated that, at dawn on Sunday,, “detected an intermediate-range ballistic missile fired at a high angle to the east”. Firing at a high angle means that the missile does not reach its maximum range.
‘Clear violation’ of UN resolutions
The device was fired from the northern province of Jagang, from where North Korea has launched in recent months what it presented as hypersonic missiles. It reached a maximum altitude of 2,000 km and traveled about 800 km in thirty minutes before falling into the Sea of Japan, the staff said.
Japan also considered it to be a medium or long range missile. Tokyo “strongly protested against North Korea”, accusing him of “threaten the peace and security of Japan” with these trials, said Japanese government spokesman Hirokazu Matsuno. For a spokesperson for the US State Department, quoted by the Yonhap news agency, Sunday’s essay constitutes a “clear violation” UN resolutions.
The last such missile to be tested by Pyongyang was the Hwasong-12, which had traveled 787 km and reached a maximum altitude of 2,111 km in 2017. At the time, analysts calculated that this projectile had the capacity to travel 4,500 km, and thus to reach the island of Guam, an American territory in the Pacific Ocean.
The North Korean regime threatened on January 20 to resume nuclear or missile tests, saying it was politically compelled to do so. “hostile” of the United States towards him. Since the inauguration of President Joe Biden in January 2021, Pyongyang has rejected the various dialogue proposals made by Washington. And Kim Jong-un reaffirmed in December that his priority was to modernize the country’s arsenal.
show of strength
On Friday, the North Korean agency KCNA published images of the dictator visiting an arms factory. In one of these photos, we see him beaming, wearing his usual belted black leather coat, surrounded by uniformed officials, whose faces are blurred. According to Rand Corporation analyst Soo Kim, North Korea has bided its time and now “gradually accelerate” his weapons tests: “Kim restrained his appetite for testing and provocation. Now the time has come, and the repeated missile strikes add another problem to an already hefty list of international challenges for Washington.”
These North Korean trials come at a delicate time for the region: China, the only major ally of the North Korean regime, is hosting the Winter Olympics in February and South Korea is holding a presidential election in March.
Pyongyang is preparing to celebrate the 80th birthday of Kim’s father, the late Kim Jong-il, in February and then the 110th birthday of his grandfather, Kim Il-sung, the country’s founding leader, in April. The multiplication of weapons tests also comes at a time when the North Korean economy is brought to its knees by international sanctions and by almost two years of border closures in the name of the fight against Covid-19. “The regime listens to what is said outside about its internal weakness, explains Leif Easley, a professor at Ewha University. So he wants to remind Washington and Seoul that any attempt to overthrow him would be far too costly.”