This ballistic operation by Pyongyang is the second to take place in the space of a few days. This is enough to worry neighboring South Korea about the imminent possibility of a nuclear test.
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It’s not really a welcome sign. North Korea fired a “unidentified ballistic missile”, on the eve ofa visit to South Korea by US Vice President Kamala Harris, the South Korean army announced on Wednesday (September 28th). Kamala Harris is due to travel with conservative South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol to the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea on Thursday.
Pyongyang’s shot aimed at the “East Sea”, clarified the South Korean authorities, or the maritime space between Japan and the two Koreas. He took place just a few days after a previous test on Sunday September 25. An act interpreted by Seoul as a response to the arrival of the US nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan for joint exercises with the South Korean navy off the country’s eastern coast.
Washington is Seoul’s main security ally. The two countries have long conducted joint exercises emphasizing their purely defensive nature, but North Korea sees them as rehearsals for a future invasion of its territory.
Pyongyang has conducted an unprecedented series of weapons tests this year. This is enough to make South Korean intelligence fear a new nuclear test from the North. “A third tunnel at its Punggye-ri nuclear site”, has been completed, South Korean lawmaker Yoo Sang-bum told reporters on Wednesday after a Secret Service briefing in Seoul. Under international sanctions for its weapons programs, North Korea adopted a new doctrine in early September proclaiming that it will never give up nuclear weapons. The regime has tested atomic bombs six times since 2006.