(Seoul) North Korea has launched a ballistic missile, the South Korean military said on Tuesday, continuing a series of tests started a few weeks ago.
It could have been launched from a submarine, analysts said.
The “unidentified ballistic missile” was launched from Sinpo towards the sea in the east of the peninsula, according to a statement from the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
“The South Korean and American intelligence services are carrying out a careful analysis in order to obtain additional details,” he added.
Sinpo, where the missile was fired, is a port city in the east of the country with a major shipyard. Satellite images showed the presence of submarines there.
The North is currently working to develop the launch of a ballistic missile from a submarine (SLBM), it has already launched from a submerged machine.
Experts believe it was likely a submerged platform rather than a submarine.
“The North has most likely launched an SLBM,” said Shin Beom-chul, a researcher at the Korea National Strategy Research Institute.
Nuclear-weaponized Pyongyang recently carried out several tests, including a long-range missile, a weapon fired from a train and a missile touted as hypersonic by North Korea, causing concern among many nations.
Last week, at a defense exhibition, a huge Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM), unveiled last year during a military parade, was presented.
“The fundamental reason for this provocation from the North is that the United States does not change its position on the talks,” Shin told AFP.
For him, the regime of “Pyongyang is thus trying to demonstrate that it can be even more provocative.”
Last week at the exhibition, leader Kim Jong-un, under whose rule the country made immense progress in armaments, accused the United States of being the “root cause” of instability in the peninsula, believing that there is no reason “to believe that they are not hostile”.
Arms race
The Korean peninsula appears to be in an arms race.
In September, Seoul tested its first SLBM, becoming one of the few nations with this advanced technology, and unveiled a hypersonic cruise missile.
After the shooting on Tuesday, the office of the South Korean presidency announced the holding of a meeting of the National Security Council without specifying the subject that will be discussed.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida reported two ballistic missiles fired, calling the launch “very regrettable”.
The new fire comes as the director of US intelligence services, Avril Haines, is in Seoul to participate in a tripartite meeting with her South Korean and Japanese counterparts on North Korea, according to media reports.
It was launched the day after the call for dialogue with Pyongyang launched by Sung Kim, special representative of current US President Joe Biden for North Korea.
“We will continue the diplomatic route with North Korea in order to make tangible progress that will improve the security of the United States and our allies,” Sung Kim said on Monday, after a meeting with his southern counterpart. Korean Noh Kyu-duk in Washington.
“We have no hostile intentions towards North Korea and we hope to meet them unconditionally,” he told reporters.
The diplomat added, however, that the allies had the “responsibility to implement the resolutions of the UN Security Council”, referring to the international sanctions that Pyongyang is trying to lift.
Kim Jong-un has met with US President Donald Trump three times, but talks have stalled since the second summit in 2019 due to lack of agreement on international sanctions relief and the moves Pyongyang was prepared to concede in return.
Washington has repeatedly reiterated its willingness to meet with North Korean officials anytime and anywhere, without preconditions.