North Korea fired two ballistic missiles on Friday, Dec. 23, the South Korean military said. last shots of a recent series.
“Our military spotted two short-range ballistic missiles launched by North Korea into the East Sea from the Sunan area in Pyongyang around 4:32 p.m. [8 h 32, heure de Paris] today “the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said, referring to the sea also known as the Sea of Japan. “Our army maintains a posture of full availability”cooperates “closely with the United States” and strengthens “vigilance”.
The launch of these missiles occurs at the end ofa year in which North Korea increased its weapons tests in an unprecedented way. The United States and South Korea have been warning for months that Pyongyang is about to carry out its seventh nuclear test.
Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, insisted earlier this week that North Korea had developed advanced technologies to take images from space using of a spy satellite.
The United States and South Korea on Tuesday held a joint air exercise and deployed a US B-52H strategic bomber to the Korean Peninsula, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement. The long-range heavy bomber was part of an exercise that included the most advanced military aircraft from the United States and South Korea, including the F-22 and F-35 stealth fighters.
Arsenal of intercontinental ballistic missiles
Friday’s launch came hours after the White House said Pyongyang had delivered weapons to the Russian private military group Wagner. In a statement picked up by the state-run KCNA news agency, North Korea’s foreign ministry denied any arms deal with Russia, saying the story had been “invented by certain dishonest forces”.
Despite the heavy international sanctions that weigh on its weapons programs, Pyongyang has built up a large arsenal of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). All of its listed ballistic missiles, however, are liquid fueled. Kim Jong-un considers the development of solid-fuel engines to manufacture more advanced missiles a strategic priority.
Liquid-fueled rockets are notorious for being difficult to operate and require a long time to prepare for launch, making them slower and, for the enemy, easier to spot and destroy. Solid-fuel missiles, which are easier and more mobile, require less preparation time and are more difficult to detect before firing.
Among the goals unveiled in 2021 by Kim Jong-un is the development of solid-fuel ICBMs that could be launched from land or from submarines. The North Korean leader also said in 2022 that he wanted his country to have the most powerful nuclear force in the world, calling it in September“irreversible” Pyongyang’s nuclear power status.
North Korea has been under multiple UN Security Council sanctions over its nuclear and missile program since 2006.
