Politics

North Korea says it launched medium-range missiles

Seoul, Mar 15 (EFE).- North Korea said it fired two medium-range ballistic missiles on Tuesday in a new response to the military drills being carried out by Seoul and Washington this week in the south of the Korean Peninsula.

State media KCNA reported Wednesday that the regime said it launched “two ground-to-ground missiles in a medium-range system” the previous day.

From the published images, the projectiles appear to belong to the system known by foreign analysts as KN-23 (apparently derived from the Russian Iskander missiles) or that they are a modification of it.

The missiles were fired from Jangyon county and “precisely hit the target, Phi Islet” in North Hamgyong province, 611 kilometers away.

On Tuesday, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) identified Jangyon as the launch site, saying it was a short-range ballistic missile that traveled about 620 kilometers.

The North Korean test, the seventh so far this year, comes after Pyongyang fired two strategic cruise missiles from a submarine on Sunday, also in response to the allies’ Freedom Shield spring exercises, which will run until March 23.

The allies have warned that North Korea, which considers the allies’ exercises a test for its invasion and has promised an “unprecedented response” to these maneuvers, is reportedly prepared to carry out a new nuclear test at any time.

Some experts believe that the regime could choose to test its first solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile, more efficient than those using liquid propellants.

The peninsula is experiencing a historic level of tension after 2022 in which Pyongyang, which has rejected offers to return to dialogue, carried out a record number of weapons tests and in which the allies once again carried out large-scale military maneuvers and deployments. EFE

asb/tw

Related Articles

Back to top button