SEOUL (AFP) – North Korea on
Sunday tested its most powerful missile since 2017, ramping up the firepower for its record-breaking seventh launch this month.
Pyongyang has never test-fired this many missiles in a calendar month before and last week warned it will abandon an nearly five-year-long self-imposed moratorium on testing long-range and nuclear weapons.
With peace talks with the U.S. stalled, North Korea has doubled-down on leader Kim Jong-un’s vow to modernize the country’s armed forces, flexing Pyongyang’s military muscles despite international sanctions.
The missile was launched from the province of Jagang, which borders China, and flew across the North before falling into the sea off the country’s east coast, both the South Korean and Japanese governments reported.
Japanese officials said the missile, based on their initial assessment of its flight path, potentially reached a maximum altitude of 2,000 kilometers (1,242 miles) and traveled 800 kilometers (497 miles) before landing in the sea.
The test was North Korea’s sixth ballistic missile launch in 2022 and seventh missile test overall.
The North also flight-tested a pair of purported long-range cruise missiles on Tuesday while vowing to strengthen its nuclear “war deterrent” and build more powerful weapons.
The last time North Korea lunched a medium-range ballistic missile was in October, 2019, when it tested the Pukguksong-3, a submarine-launched ballistic missile.
Last year, North Korea’s leader announced a new five-year plan for developing weapons and issued an ambitious wish list that included hypersonic weapons, spy satellites, solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missiles and submarine-launched nuclear missiles.
Washington imposed new sanctions in response and asked the United Nations Security Council to impose more sanctions on North Korea for its recent ballistic missile tests which promoted Pyongyang to double down on weapons testing with impunity.