According to the forces of South Korea and Japan, North Korea launched what seemed to be a ballistic missile into its eastern sea on Tuesday, marking the country’s second weapons launch in a week. North Korea continues to enhance its military capabilities despite a self-imposed economic lockdown and frozen nuclear talks with the United States, as evidenced by a series of weapons tests in 2021.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff of South Korea confirmed that the North had shot at least one weapon early Tuesday, but did not specify whether it was ballistic or how far it flew.
Both the Prime Minister’s Office and Japan’s Defense Ministry indicated that the North Korean weapon was most likely a ballistic missile, but neither provided any other details.
The Offices of Guam Homeland Security and Civil Defense said they were watching reports of the North’s launch but that no immediate threat to Guam, a key US military base in the Pacific, had been identified.
The most recent launch came six days after the North launched a ballistic missile into the sea in what it later characterised as a successful test of a hypersonic missile, a type of weaponry it claimed to have tested for the first time in September.
That test happened just days after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un pledged to strengthen his armed forces despite pandemic-related obstacles at a major party meeting.
Due to disagreements over international sanctions on North Korea, US-led dialogue on the North’s nuclear programme has been deadlocked since 2019.
The Biden administration has frequently advocated for the resumption of nuclear diplomacy “anywhere and at any time” without preconditions, but North Korea has insisted that any discussions must first end the US’s hostility against it.
The North’s growing nuclear arsenal is at the heart of Kim’s leadership, and it’s evident that he sees it as his only chance of survival.
During his 10-year presidency, he has launched a slew of weapons tests in an effort to gain the ability to launch nuclear attacks on the American mainland.
However, because to the COVID-19 outbreak, US-led sanctions over his nuclear ambitions, and his government’s own mismanagement, his country’s economy has suffered serious setbacks in the last two years.
