North Korea launched an ‘unidentified ballistic missile’ on Sunday, the Seoul military reported, days after Pyongyang announced a successful test of a high-thrust solid-fuel engine with the aim of developing a new weapon.
“North Korea fired an unidentified ballistic missile towards (the) East Sea”, also known as the Sea of Japan, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said.
Despite the heavy international sanctions that weigh on its weapons programs, Pyongyang has built an arsenal of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs).
All of its ICBMs, however, are liquid fueled. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has given strategic priority to the development of solid-fuel engines to make more advanced missiles, like the successful test announced on Friday.
Kim Jong Un claimed in 2022 that he wanted North Korea to have the most powerful nuclear force in the world, and declared his country’s status as a nuclear state “irreversible”.
Among its goals unveiled in 2021 is the development of solid-fuel ICBMs that could be launched from land or from submarines.
The engine test announced on Friday was a step towards achieving this goal, but experts do not know what stage of development North Korea is in on such missiles.
Pyongyang has conducted a record series of weapons tests this year, including its most advanced ICBM.
The United States and South Korea have been warning for months that North Korea may be planning what would be its seventh nuclear test in its history and the first in five years.