North Korea fires two new projectiles into the sea

Martin Woolridge 3 years ago 3 min read

North Korea fired new projectiles on Monday, its fourth so far this year. According to the South Korean General Staff, Pyongyang was to launch two short-range ballistic missiles from an airfield in the capital, which later fell into the waters of the Sea of Japan without damage.

“At the moment, our military is tracking and monitoring movements associated with (North Korea) and maintaining a position of readiness,” the General Staff wrote in a letter.

North Korea

The missiles were activated from the Sinan airport in the capital, Pyongyang.

For its part, the Japanese military said that the projectiles were launched from the west of the country in the direction of the Sea of Japan around 8:49 and 8:52 am (local time) and that they were located outside its exclusive economic zone.

According to its defense minister, Nobuo Kishi, the projectiles reached a maximum height of 50 km and flew about 300 km before falling into the sea.

This is the fourth launch of this type carried out by Pyongyang last January, after it launched on the fifth and eleventh days what it claims are hypersonic missiles, capable of traveling five times faster than sound, and on the fourteenth it launched two missiles Steers from a train after he threatened to retaliate against new US sanctions against several North Koreans.

military tension

North Korea has regained a firing rate not seen since 2017

In September, the country fired its first such projectile, the Hwasong-8, and this month it’s back to a rate of release not seen since 2017, when tensions with the White House reached a peak.

Since the aforementioned failure of the Hanoi summit, Washington has chosen not to attach much importance to the occasional North Korean launches.

But after the 11th test, the Joe Biden administration approved for the first time sanctions against six North Korean citizens it accuses of providing materials and technology for the regime’s weapons program from abroad.