Debris analysis shows Pyongyang missile similar to Russian S-200, Seoul says
Seoul, Nov 9 (EFE).- Debris analysis of the missile that North Korea launched on Nov. 2 and landed off the coast of South Korea is similar to a Russian S-200, Seoul said Wednesday.
On Sunday, the South Korean navy found a 3-meter by 2-meter piece of the missile in the Sea of Japan.
It has been assessed to be from a North Korean SA-5 missile (the name given by NATO to the S-200) given its appearance and characteristics, according to the South Korean Ministry of Defense after analysis by various agencies.
The S-200 or SA-5 is a long-range surface-to-air missile that, as the South Korean army pointed out, is similar to that which Russia has recently used in its war in Ukraine.
On Nov. 2, Seoul detected the launch of what it said were three short-range ballistic missiles from its eastern coast, and one of them crashed into the sea just 57 kilometers east of the South Korean coastal city of Sokcho.
It was the first time since the division of the peninsula that a North Korean missile has crossed the Northern Limit Line and fallen into the waters of the South Korean EEZ.
This missile was just one of some 30 that Pyongyang fired between Nov. 2-5 in response to large-scale air drills carried out by South Korea and the United States.
Tension on the Korean Peninsula is heightened amid repeated North Korean weapons tests, the military maneuvers by the allies and the possibility that, as indicated by satellites, Kim Jong-un’s regime is ready to carry out its first nuclear test since 2017. EFE
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