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The South’s military claimed North Korea shot a “unidentified projectile” on Thursday, the latest in a series of provocations by the nuclear-armed country.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement that North Korea fired an unidentified projectile eastwards.
A “possible ballistic missile presumably launched from North Korea” prompted Japan’s coastguard to issue an emergency alert to warships.
Since North Korean leader Kim Jong Un began on a flurry of high-profile diplomatic engagements with then-US President Donald Trump in 2018, Pyongyang has been sticking by its moratorium on testing ICBMs and nuclear weapons.
Despite efforts by current President Joe Biden’s administration to provide new negotiations, talks later collapsed, and diplomacy has been stagnant ever since.
Pyongyang first hinted at lifting the moratorium in January, and it has already conducted a record number of weapons tests this year, including of banned hypersonic and medium-range ballistic missiles.
The South Korean military stated last week that the North had test-fired a suspected ballistic missile, but it looked to have failed almost soon after launch, bursting in mid-air above the city.
Analysts believe the failed test was of Pyongyang’s “monster missile,” the Hwasong 17, a brand-new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) system that has never been launched before.
According to Seoul, the North appeared to fire multiple rocket launchers on Sunday.
