North Korea fired multiple ballistic missiles on Wednesday (Oct 22), its first such launch in months and just a week before world leaders, including US President Donald Trump, descend on South Korea for a summit.
Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said it had “detected several projectiles, believed to be short-range ballistic missiles”.
The missiles were fired around 8.10am Wednesday (7.10am Singapore time) from an area south of the capital Pyongyang, Seoul’s military said.
They flew for around 350km, Seoul added.
Earlier, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said the launch was towards the sea off North Korea’s east coast. North Korea last launched ballistic missiles on May 8 when it fired multiple short-range missiles from its east coast.
It is also Pyongyang’s first launch since South Korean President Lee Jae-myung took office in June.
Trump has said he hopes to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, possibly this year, following several meetings during the Republican president’s first term.
The North’s state media has indicated that Kim is open to future talks, with caveats that the United States give up its “delusional” demand that Pyongyang relinquish its nuclear arsenal.
North Korea showcased its latest and “most powerful” intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) earlier this month at a parade attended by top officials from Russia and China.
Pyongyang has said that the strike range of the new Hwasong-20 “knows no bounds”.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un also oversaw in September a test of a solid-fuel engine used for long range nuclear missiles.
State media said it was the ninth and final test of the engine, indicating that a full test-fire of the new ICBM could be conducted in coming months.
“GROWING AND ACTIVE” MISSILE PROGRAMME
The launch was “a response to Trump and his recent moves”, Park Won-gon, a professor at Seoul’s Ewha Womans University, said.
Kim is also “asserting his regime’s presence during an event hosted by Seoul, as he’s done before”, he added.
Trump is expected to arrive in South Korea on Oct 29 for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum.
North Korea has for years staged test flights of long-range missiles apparently able to reach the continental United States.
The US demand that Kim give up his banned weapons has long been a sticking point between the two countries.
But Pyongyang has also recently indicated a fresh openness to talks with the US.
Kim met Trump three times for high-profile summits during the US leader’s first term, before talks collapsed in Hanoi in 2019 over what concessions Pyongyang was prepared to make on its atomic weapons.
Source: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/east-asia/north-korea-ballistic-missile-south-military-5416616
