North Korea fired at least two ballistic missiles on January 14, its third test in two weeks
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff Won In-choul said on January 14 that they detected two short-range ballistic missiles (SRBMs) fired eastward from North Pyongan province on North Korea’s west coast.
According to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, the missiles came from an inland area in western North Pyongan province and the two missiles flew about 267 miles (430 kilometers) to a maximum altitude of 22 miles (36 kilometers).
The Japan Coast Guard also reported that North Korea fired a ballistic missile, which appeared to have landed in waters outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone, NHK reported citing officials from the Japanese Defense Ministry.
Japan also urged its ships in the sea not to approach to missile fragments, should they discover them.
This is North Korea’s third missile launch this year. On January 11, North Korea test-fired a ballistic missile towards the Sea of Japan. The missile reportedly traveled for over 700 km at a maximum altitude of 70 km. North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un witnessed the test of the country’s third hypersonic missile and urged military scientists to “further accelerate the efforts to steadily build up the country’s strategic military muscle both in quality and quantity and further modernize the army.”
On January 12, North Korea announced a successful launch of a hypersonic missile, which can travel about 1,000 km and hit its target by changing its course at the final stage of the flight. The country also launched a hypersonic missile on January 5.
North’s KCNA state news agency reported that North Korea’s foreign ministry recently developed a new type of weapon that was part of an effort to modernize its defense capabilities and did not target any particular country or harm the security of its neighbors.
Biden administration, for the first time since taking office, imposed sanctions on North Korea’s weapons program after a series of missile launches in recent months. The U.S. also called the UN Security Council to take action against several North Korean individuals and entities accused of violating UN Security Council resolutions that banned North Korea from developing nuclear weapons and missile systems.
North Korea criticized the U.S. for pushing new sanctions on previous launches, by calling it “provocation” and warned of a strong response.
North Korea issued a statement condemning the Biden administration for imposing new sanctions on its missile tests and warning of stouter and clearer action if the U.S. maintains its “confrontational stance.”
North Korea’s foreign ministry said that although the U.S. talks about diplomacy and dialogue, its actions show that “it is still engrossed in its policy for isolating and stifling” North Korea.
“The U.S. is intentionally escalating the situation even with the activation of independent sanctions, not content with referring the DPRK’s just activity to the UN Security Council,” the North Korean foreign ministry statement said.
