This is a photo published by the North Korean news agency KCNA. It shows the Earth from space and was, according to her, taken by a camera installed on the head of the missile. Pyongyang confirmed on Monday January 31 that it had launched its most powerful missile since 2017 the day before.
Before this test, North Korea had already carried out six missile tests since the beginning of the year, while the number one of the country, Kim Jong-un, called during his New Year greetings for a reinforcement of capacities country’s military, citing the security context against a backdrop of diplomatic stalemate with the United States over the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.
The last significant series of shootings dates back to 2019, after the breakdown of negotiations between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and then-President of the United States Donald Trump (2017-2021). “An evaluation firing of the Hwasong-12 intermediate and long range surface-to-surface ballistic missile was carried out on Sunday”, Who “confirmed accuracy, safety and efficacy” of the machine, currently in production, announced KCNA.
The North Korean news agency claims on Monday that the test was carried out using the “highest angle launch system” out of concern for the safety of neighboring countries, and that the warhead of the missile contained a camera.
The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff announced on Sunday that it detected at dawn “an intermediate-range ballistic missile fired at a high angle”. A high angle shot means the missile does not reach its maximum range. For South Korea, the North follows “a similar path” to that of 2017, when tensions were at their height on the Korean peninsula.
Pyongyang “is close to breaking the moratorium” self-imposed nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile testing, South Korean President Moon Jae-in said on Sunday.
American interests threatened
The missile was fired from the northern province of Jagang, from where North Korea has launched what it claims are hypersonic missiles from in recent months. It reached a maximum altitude of 2,000 kilometers and traveled about 800 km in thirty minutes before falling into the Sea of Japan, said the South Korean staff. Pyongyang previously tested a Hwasong-12 missile in 2017, which traveled 787 km and reached a maximum altitude of 2,111 km.
At the time, analysts had calculated that this projectile had the capacity to travel 4,500 km, and therefore to reach the island of Guam, an American territory in the Pacific Ocean. In 2017, the launch of a Hwasong-12 was quickly followed by the firing of a Hwasong-15, which can reach North America, according to the Korea Institute for National Unification. The last test “signals the possibility of an intercontinental ballistic missile launch and the imminent breach of the moratorium using the Hwasong-12 launch map”, he explains in a note.
The United States offered North Korea direct negotiations on Sunday, without preconditions, on its nuclear and ballistic programs after the shooting. “We believe it is totally timely and totally correct to start having serious discussions”, a senior Joe Biden administration official told reporters. Since the accession to the White House of the Democratic president, in January 2021, the United States has several times tried to launch talks, in vain.
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 prepares to celebrate 80and anniversary of the birth of Kim’s father, the late Kim Jong-il, in February, then the 110and birthday of his grandfather, Kim Il-sung, the country’s founding leader, in April.
With Pyongyang struggling economically with reports of soaring food prices, leaders could be in search of quick profits, said Lim Eul-chul, a professor of North Korean studies at Kyungnam University. from Seoul.