North Korea fired "an unidentified missile" toward the Sea of Japan, off the eastern coast of South Korea, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said Monday (April 22). This is the latest in a series of attacks carried out by Pyongyang since the start of the year.
Earlier, the Japanese defense ministry reported a "probable ballistic missile launch" by Pyongyang in a message posted on X. The Japanese coast guard, citing the defense ministry, added shortly after that the missile seemed to have fallen back into the sea.
The missile fell outside Japan's exclusive economic zone (maritime space between territorial waters and international waters over which a state has exclusive rights to exploit resources), according to Japanese media, citing non-governmental government sources. identified.
According to the specialist site NK News, based in Seoul, "the brevity of the flight, probably less than ten minutes, shows that the launch involved a short-range ballistic missile (SRBM) or a multiple launch rocket system (MLRS) of 600 mm”.
This launch comes after the dissolution of the UN sanctions monitoring system against North Korea and its nuclear program, due to a veto by Russia in the UN Security Council. In March, Russia vetoed a draft resolution extending by one year the mandate of the committee of experts responsible for monitoring these sanctions.
Sending 7,000 weapons containers to Moscow
Pyongyang has been the subject of a series of UN sanctions since 2006, which have been reinforced several times subsequently, but has nevertheless continued to develop its nuclear and weapons programs.
North Korea announced Friday that it had tested a “very large” warhead designed for a strategic cruise missile. Unlike ballistic missile launches, cruise missile tests are not prohibited by current United Nations sanctions. Cruise missiles, which are typically jet-powered, fly at a lower altitude than more sophisticated ballistic missiles, making them harder to detect and intercept.
North Korea could test cruise missiles before sending them to Russia for use in its war in Ukraine, analysts have warned. Washington and Seoul say North Korean leader Kim Jong-un shipped weapons to Moscow, which would fall under United Nations sanctions. Pyongyang has sent around 7,000 containers of weapons to Moscow for use in Ukraine, according to South Korean authorities.
Since the start of the year, the country has called South Korea its "main enemy," shut down agencies dedicated to reunification and inter-Korean dialogue, and threatened war over any violation of its territory "if what 0.001 millimeter”. Over the past year, North Korea has carried out an unprecedented number of missile tests. In 2022, Pyongyang declared its status as an “irreversible” nuclear power.
