Photo: EFE/EPA/YONHAP SOUTH KOREA OUT / EFE
North Korea made its third missile launch in the last nine days, just hours after threatening to respond “stronger” to the Sanctions approved this week by the United States against North Korean citizens linked to the regime’s weapons program, and against their continued testing.
This is what appeared to be two short-range ballistic missiles
The lack of interest shown for months in dialogue by Pyongyang, the renewed US willingness to tighten sanctions and the three North Korean weapons tests that have taken place in just over a week bring echoes of the tensions that were experienced between the two countries in 2017.
North Korean climbing and the heterodox style of the time US President Donald Trump later ended up setting up a carousel of summits between Trump himself and the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, which lowered that tension, despite the fact that they finally led to a traffic jam in the negotiations that persists.
However, the future diplomatic landscape on the Korean peninsula does not seem headed in that same direction, at a time when that the hermetic country remains more closed in on itself than ever due to the pandemic. The fact is that it has kept the borders firmly blocked since January 2020 and has no plan to vaccination at sight.
Launch from the Chinese border
Regarding the most recent release, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) detailed in a statement that the army “detected two projectiles believed to be short-range ballistic missiles launched from the vicinity of Uiju , in North Pyongan province (northwest of the country)”, next to the border with China.
The missiles were fired at 14: 41 Y 14: 52 in the direction of the Sea of Japan (called the East Sea in the two Koreas) and traveled some 430 kilometers reaching a at a maximum altitude of about 01 kilometers , according to the JCS.
South Korean and US military intelligence are still analyzing the “detailed specifications of both projectiles”.
For its part, the Japanese government has said so far that it believes that it is a single ballistic missile , while the Kyodo news agency reported, citing a source from the Executive, that the projectile fell into the Sea of Japan, outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ). .
The country’s coast guard asked vessels to pay attention to falling objects, although Hirokazu Matsuno , chief secretary of the government, indicated that no damage to ships or planes was reported.
Hypersonic missiles or ballistic?
The 5 and 11 Last January the North Korean regime fired what it claims are hypersonic missiles , although Seoul and Tokyo, whose radar systems have initially had problems establishing the flight patterns of these projectiles, have insisted in their analyzes that they are ballistic missiles that show great maneuverability.
Seoul has insisted that it is capable of “detecting and intercepting” these projectiles and that Pyongyang -which assures that with these tests it has been able to successfully develop hypersonic technology– it still does not have the knowledge or the technology to manufacture this type of weaponry.
A delicate moment
For its part, the National Security Council ( The South Korean NSC once again regretted the northern trial and stressed again that these tests “do not help stabilize the situation. n” at a delicate moment in the region, with the start of the Beijing Winter Olympics scheduled in three weeks and two months before the presidential elections in South Korea.
The US Ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, also noted this week that Washington is pushing for the Security Council to impose additional sanctions on North Korea
Our goal remains clear: complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula , consistent w/ UNSC resolutions. We’re prepared to engage in and support serious, sustained diplomacy – it’s up to North Korea to choose dialogue and peace over its unlawful and threatening weapons program. pic.twitter.com/nAnrYXhW2b—Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield (@USAmbUN) January 13, 2022
Washington estimates that North Korea used ballistic missiles in these tests, which violates previous sanctioning resolutions approved since 2006 as punishment for the North Korean weapons program.
In a New Year’s radio message, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un somewhat surprisingly avoided sending a message to the United States and assured that the priority of the regime is the domestic economy and the strengthening of national defense.
Last year Kim himself rejected US offers to try to resume the dialogue on denuclearization, stalled after the failed Hanoi summit with Trump in 2019, arguing that Washington maintains a “hostile” attitude towards his regime.
The sanctions by of the US government accused five citizens of participating in obtaining equipment and technology necessary for the missile program. The Biden administration has said that it is willing to resume talks at any time and without preconditions .
With agency information.
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