Nuclear-armed North Korea fires unidentified projectile

North Korea on Wednesday fired an unidentified projectile or missile into the Sea of Japan, as confirmed by South Korea’s military.

This just days after the North Korean capital, Pyongyang said it had been testing long-range cruise missiles. The tests were deemed as a success.

North Korea’s cruise missile tests

According to Seoul’s (South Korea) joint chiefs of staff, the projectile was fired into the East Sea, situated between the Japanese archipelago Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the Russian mainland.

As reported by WION, analysts say the cruise missile tests may be the country’s first weapon with nuclear capability.

North Korea had been developing missiles for two years and continues to expand its military capabilities despite the stalemate in nuclear negotiations with the United States.

A ‘strategic weapon’

During tests flights carried out on Saturday and Sunday, North Korea successfully hit targets 1 500 kilometres away. The country described its new missiles as a “strategic weapon of great significance”.

This after Supreme Leader of North Korea, Kim Jong Un, implied the military developed missiles with the intent to arm itself with nuclear warheads.

North Korea said it was developing new types of missiles and carrying out weapons tests to strengthen its military and against hostility from South Korea and the United States.

Missile tests in March

North Korea fired two suspected ballistic missiles into the sea back in March, labelled as the country’s first substantive provocation to the new US administration of Joe Biden.

As confirmed by Seoul’s joint chiefs of staff at the time, the missiles travelled 450 kilometres and reached a maximum altitude of 60 kilometres.

Following Biden’s inauguration, North Korea accused the new administration of adopting “lunatic theory”, saying it would ignore attempts at dialogue by Washington.

Talks between former President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un reached a stalemate in 2019 when their second summit in Hanoi, in Vietnam’s Red River delta, broke up over sanctions relief.

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