– by Josh Smith and Cynthia Kim
Seoul (Reuters) – North Korea has undertaken the largest missile test since 2017, bringing it closer to resuming long-range tests, South Korea said.
South Korea’s general staff said it was a ballistic missile that was fired eastward across the sea from Jagang province on Sunday morning. The projectile reached a height of 2000 kilometers with a range of 800 kilometers. This is the first test of such an intermediate-range missile (IRBM) since 2017. North Korea’s state news agency KCNA reported on Monday that it was a “Hwasong-12” intermediate-range missile. This was equipped with a camera that took pictures in space during the flight.
South Korea and the US condemned the test. President Moon Jae In called an emergency National Security Council meeting, a rare occurrence in South Korea. The missile test is a step by North Korea towards abandoning a self-imposed moratorium on ICBM testing, he said. North Korea’s ruler Kim Jong Un has said he no longer sees himself bound by the moratorium. It was announced in 2018 during a summit with then-US President Donald Trump. A few days ago, the government in Pyongyang accused the United States and its allies of continuing their “hostile policies.”
North Korea has carried out a series of missile tests since the beginning of the year, thereby violating UN requirements. An expert now spoke of a new quality. “Regardless of whether it’s an IRBM or an ICBM, it’s a strategic missile of some sort,” wrote George William Herbert of the Center for Nonproliferation Studies on Twitter on Sunday. According to political scientist Leif-Eric Easley from Ewha University, one of the aims of the test series should be to show strength. “The Kim regime is listening to discussions abroad about its domestic weaknesses and seeing South Korea’s growing strength,” Easley said. “It’s a reminder to Washington and Seoul that trying to overthrow it would be too costly.”
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