Pyongyang launches another suspected ballistic missile

Seoul, Jan 11 (EFE).- North Korea on Tuesday launched another projectile in the direction of the Sea of Japan, which the South Korean military presumes to be a ballistic missile.

It came just six days after Pyongyang tested what it claimed was a new hypersonic missile.

“Our military detected a projectile presumed to be a ballistic missile launched by North Korea from inland into the East Sea around 07:27 today,” the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff, which had earlier noted an “unidentified projectile,” said in a statement.

“The ROK (South Korea) and US intelligence agencies are conducting detailed analysis for additional information,” it added.

The Japanese Coast Guard also said an object, “potentially” a ballistic missile, had been launched from North Korea, and that it had “possibly” already dropped into the water, although without specifying where.

The pattern is similar to that of six days ago, when North Korea launched another projectile.

At that time, South Korea spoke of an “unidentified projectile” and later, like Japan, considered it a ballistic missile.

Pyongyang announced the next day that it had launched a new hypersonic missile, although Seoul considered its claims “exaggerated” and assured that, although the projectile showed some of the characteristics of a hypersonic missile, it did not fit the criteria of the two widely recognized categories.

In any case, the tactical weapons that Pyongyang has been testing since 2019, along with another that it qualified as its first hypersonic missile and that it tested in September last year (the Hwasong-8), have been difficult to detect with precision for Seoul, Tokyo and Washington when tracing non-ballistic trajectories that allow them to bypass radars and antimissile shields.

Tuesday’s launch comes 10 days after leader Kim Jong-un delivered a speech in which he stressed the need to strengthen the country’s defenses and in which he did not send a conciliatory message to Seoul or Washington.

The denuclearization dialogue between the North Koreans and the Americans has been stalled since the failed Hanoi summit nearly three years ago. EFE

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