North Korea: Pyongyang fires sea-to-surface ballistic missile

North Korea fired a ballistic sea-to-ground missile on Saturday, May 7, announced the South Korean army staff, a few hours after the United States warned of the possibility of a recovery nuclear tests by Pyongyang in the coming weeks.

It is the 15th show of force this year for the nuclear-armed country, which also launched an intercontinental ballistic missile for the first time since 2017.

This new launch comes before the new South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol takes office on Tuesday, favorable to the balance of power with the North, and accentuates fears of an escalation.

Indeed, the US State Department warned the day before that a nuclear test could take place “as early as this month”, based on satellite imagery.

Towards a nuclear test?

“Our military detected around 2:07 p.m. that a short-range ballistic missile suspected to be an SLBM was fired from the sea off Sinpo, South Hamgyong,” South Korea’s military headquarters said on Saturday. in a press release. Sinpo is an important naval base in North Korea.

According to the Japanese Coast Guard, citing their Ministry of Defense, Pyongyang launched an object “likely to be a ballistic missile”. At a major military parade last week, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un pledged to build up his nuclear forces “as soon as possible” and warned of possible strikes ” preventive”, mentioned by the future South Korean president, Yoon Suk-yeol.

The day before, Washington warned that Pyongyang “is preparing the Punggye-ri test site and could be ready to carry out a test there as early as this month, which would be its seventh nuclear test”. Despite severe international sanctions on its weapons program, North Korea continues to intensify its tests and still rejects calls for dialogue from the United States.