North Korea fires new ballistic missile, South Korea and Japan say

A short-range ballistic missile fired by the North Korea this Saturday (7) it reached an altitude of about 60 kilometers along its 600-kilometer trajectory, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the South Korea .

At that altitude, a missile traveling this far can be difficult for defense systems to track. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missile was likely fired from a submarine at 2:07 pm local time from the Sinpo area on North Korea’s east coast.

The Japanese coast guard confirmed that the projectile had fallen into the Sea of Japan also known as the East Sea, at 2:25 pm local time.

South Korean and US intelligence officials are reviewing the launch, and the South Korean military is maintaining a state of readiness, the chiefs of staff said.

The launch this Saturday comes just days after another test of missile ballistic missile by North Korea on Wednesday (4). The country has stepped up its testing program this year.

Saturday’s projectile marks the country’s 14th missile launch of 2022 so far, including one that is presumed to have failed in mid-March. By comparison, North Korea only conducted four tests in 2020 and eight in 2021.

The South Korean military has labeled the repeated missile launches as “seriously threatening” acts that must be “stopped immediately”.

At a military parade on April 25, the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un promised to accelerate the development of nuclear weapons at the “highest possible” speed, to envision its ambitions for its weapons program – particularly efforts to develop solid-fuel missiles that would be easier to hide from foreign spy agencies.