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By Matthew Eloyi
North Korea on Sunday test-fired its most powerful missile since 2017, increasing the firepower for its record-breaking seventh launch this month, as Seoul warned that nuclear and long-range tests could follow.
Pyongyang has never tested this many missiles in a calendar month before, and last week vowed to end a nearly five-year-old self-imposed moratorium on long-range and nuclear weapons testing, blaming US “hostile” policies for compelling it to do so.
Despite biting international sanctions, North Korea has doubled down on leader Kim Jong Un’s commitment to modernize the regime’s armed forces, flexing Pyongyang’s military strength.
South Korea said Sunday that North Korea appears to be following a “similar pattern” to 2017 — when tensions on the peninsula were at their highest — and warned that nuclear and intercontinental missile tests might resume shortly.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in said in a statement following an emergency meeting of Seoul’s National Security Council that North Korea “had come dangerously close to destroying the moratorium declaration.”
The military of South Korea stated it had “detected an intermediate-range ballistic missile fired at a lofted angle eastward towards the East Sea” on Sunday.
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According to Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, the missile reached a maximum altitude of 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) and flew roughly 800 kilometers for half an hour.
Missiles with a lofted trajectory are fired at a high angle rather than out to their maximum range.
“In 2017, North Korea conducted similar tests with its burgeoning medium and long-range missile technology,” NK News’ Chad O’Carroll tweeted.
“So this would imply today’s test involves one of those missile types — or potentially something new. In other words, a big deal.”
Pyongyang last tested an intermediate-range missile in 2017, the Hwasong-12, which analysts thought was powerful enough to put the US territory of Guam in range at the time.
Hirokazu Matsuno, Japan’s senior government spokesperson, claimed the ballistic missile was “intermediate-range or longer-range.”
The launch was slammed by the United States, which said it was a “clear violation” of multiple UN resolutions, according to Yonhap news agency.
