North Korea fired on Tuesday two cruise missiles, as reported by the South Korean Army, in what was Pyongyang’s fifth projectile test in the first month of the year.
Sources from the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) of South Korea informed the local Yonhap agency of the two new launches, which took place on Tuesday morning from a point inside North Korea towards the Sea of Japan (called the Sea of Japan). of the East in the two Koreas).
Although the South Korean forces continue to analyze the details of the launch, preliminary data suggests that they would have been cruise missiles, which are not considered a threat to the South’s territory as they can be detected and intercepted without problems, the same source said.
The South Korean authorities did not offer more details of the new North test, while Japan has not reported at the time of the launch, which it follows the firing of ballistic missiles on the 15th and 17th and the two tests with hypersonic missiles a few days before.
The cruise missile tests do not violate UN resolutions, which prohibit North Korea from testing ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons (tests that have not been carried out since November 2017).
South Korean citizens watch North Korea’s new test at a Seoul train station. Photo Ahn Young-joon/AP
The fifth round of missile launches so far this year takes place in the middle of the deadlock in dialogue on denuclearization between the hermetic regime and the United States.
North Korea has recently increased its activity in an apparent effort to pressure the Joe Biden administration to revive diplomatic contacts, after the pandemic dealt a new blow to North Korea. a broken economy because of the suffocating sanctions led by the North American country for its nuclear weapons program and because of the decades of mismanagement by the North Korean government.
In this context, Pyongyang threatened on the 20th with a possible resumption of its nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile tests, noting that he is studying resuming all his temporarily suspended actions” in terms of Defense.
The regime contemplates this type of measure that it decided to unilaterally suspend within the framework of the inter-Korean thaw process, and in response to the “increasingly aggravating hostile actions” of the United States, as decided at a meeting of the highest government body of the country led by Kim Jong-un and collected by the state media.
Kim Jong-un continues to defy the United States. AP Photo
Some experts believe that North Korea could drastically increase weapons demonstrations after the Winter Olympics, which begin on February 4 in China. China is North Korea’s main ally and economic lifeline.
Analysts believe Pyongyang probably believes it needs a flashy provocation to get a reaction from the Biden administration, which has offered talks but has been unwilling to ease sanctions unless Kim takes concrete steps to abandon his nuclear program and of missiles.
With information from EFE
DB