(UTV | NORTH KOREA) – North Korea fired a ballistic missile on Wednesday, South Korea’s military said, just a week after leader Kim Jong Un vowed to boost Pyongyang’s nuclear arsenal at the “fastest possible speed”.
The launch was the latest in a string of sanctions-busting North Korean weapons tests so far this year, and came after US and South Korean officials warned Pyongyang was preparing to resume nuclear testing.
“One ballistic missile fired by North Korea today at 1203 (0303 GMT) from around Sunan towards the East Sea (Sea of Japan) was detected,” South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.
“Currently, our military is maintaining readiness posture by tracking and monitoring related movements in preparation for additional launches.”
Japan’s Coast Guard also said that North Korea had launched “potentially a ballistic missile”.
The nuclear-armed state staged a dramatic return to long-range launches in March, test-firing at full range its most powerful intercontinental ballistic missile which may be able to reach the continental United States.
Such tests had been paused while Kim met then-US President Donald Trump for a bout of diplomacy that collapsed in 2019.
Talks have stalled since, and despite biting sanctions, North Korea has doubled down on its military modernization drive.