SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA (Transatlantic Today) – According to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, North Korea conducted its fourth missile test this year on Monday, launching two missiles into the water off the Korean Peninsula’s east coast.
Nobuo Kishi, Japan’s minister of defense, said two missiles were launched three minutes apart from North Korea’s western region.
Early Japanese assessments estimated the missiles’ range at around 300 kilometers (186 miles), with a maximum height of 50 kilometers (31 miles), according to Kishi.
South Korean defense spokesman Boo Seung-chan said Monday that intelligence agencies in South Korea and the United States are examining the specifics of Monday’s launches.
Pyongyang continues to pursue its missile program, having conducted two tests last week and one a week before. According to the government-run Korean Central News Agency, North Korea effectively test-fired ballistic missiles on January 5 and 11.
Pyongyang also conducted a test firing of two small-range ballistic missiles from a railway car on January 14.
According to CNN, the US placed penalties on eight North Korean and Russian businesses and individuals for assisting Pyongyang’s ballistic missile programs following Pyongyang’s missile test last Tuesday.
On Friday, a spokesman for North Korea’s Foreign Ministry criticized the US for taking a confrontational position towards the country’s weapons development, saying that if the US takes such a confrontational approach, the DPRK will be compelled to take a harder and more certain response.
A representative for the country defended the country’s right to beef up its weaponry in a recent statement broadcast by KCNA, claiming the country’s recent development of latest weapons was only part of its endeavors for modernizing its national defense capability.
After Friday’s test, Leif-Eric Easley, associate professor of international studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul, said, “North Korea is trying to set a trap for the Biden administration.” “It has queued up missiles that it wants to test anyway and is responding to US pressure with additional provocations in an effort to extort concessions.”
International law prohibits Pyongyang from firing ballistic missiles and nuclear warheads, but it has continued to build the weapons anyhow.
