Kim Jong-un called in his New Year’s greetings to strengthening military capabilities of the country, citing the security situation on the diplomatic dead end with the United States on the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.
Le Monde with AFP and Reuters
This is a picture published by the news agency North Korean KCNA. It shows the Earth from space and, according to her, was taken by a camera installed on the head of the missile. Pyongyang confirmed Monday 31 January, having launched yesterday its most powerful missile since 2017.
Before this test, North Korea had conducted since the beginning of the year six missile tests, while a number of the country, Kim Jong-un, called in his New Year’s greetings to a strengthening the military capabilities of the country, citing the security situation amid diplomatic standoff with the United States on the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.
The last major series of shots dating back to 2019, after the failure of negotiations between North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, and the president of the United Ettats at the time, Donald Trump (2017-2021) . “A shot of the ground-ground ballistic missile evaluation middle and long range Hwasong-12 was performed Sunday,” which “confirmed the precision, safety and effectiveness” of the machine, in production, KCNA reported.
The news agency says North Korea on Monday that the test was performed using the “launching system at the corner highest” for security reasons to neighboring countries, and that missile head contained a camera.
Joint Staff South Korea announced on Sunday, having detected at Dawn “ballistic missile intermediate-range shot at a high angle.” A high angle shot means that the missile does not reach its maximum range. For South Korea, the North follows “a similar path” to that of 2017, when tensions were at their height in the Korean peninsula.
Pyongyang “is close to breaking the moratorium” self-imposed on nuclear tests and intercontinental ballistic missiles, said Sunday the South Korean president, Moon Jae-in.
threatened US interests
The missile was fired from the northern province of Jagang, where North Korea has launched in recent months it has presented as hypersonic missiles. It reached a maximum altitude of 2000 kilometers and has covered about 800 kilometers in thirty minutes before falling into the Sea of Japan, said the South Korean Staff. Pyongyang had tested a missile Hwasong-12 in 2017, who had traveled 787 km and reaches a maximum altitude of 2111 km.
At the time, analysts had calculated that the projectile had the ability to travel 4500 km, and thus to reach the island of Guam, a US territory in the Pacific Ocean. In 2017, the launch of a Hwasong-12 was quickly followed by the firing of a Hwasong-15, which can reach North America, according to the Korea Institute for National Unification. The last test “indicates the possibility of launching ballistic intercontinental missiles and the imminent breaking of the moratorium using the card launching a Hwasong-12,” he said in a note.
The United States proposed Sunday at North Korea for direct talks, without preconditions, its nuclear and missile programs after this shot. “We believe that it is entirely appropriate and totally okay to start having serious discussions,” he told reporters a senior administration Biden. Since the accession to the White House the Democratic president in January 2021, the US has repeatedly tried to start talks in vain.
The North Korean tests occur in a difficult period for the region: China, only major ally of the North Korean regime, welcomed the Winter Olympics in February and South Korea held a presidential election in March.
Pyongyang is preparing to celebrate the 80 th anniversary of the birth of Kim’s father, the late Kim Jong-il, in February and the 110 th anniversary his grandfather, Kim Il-sung, the founding leader of the country in April.
Pyongyang is beset with economic difficulties, according to reports, soaring food prices, the leaders could be in search of quick profits, said Lim Eul-chul, a professor of North Korean studies at University Kyungnam Seoul.