North Korea confirms test

This combination of photos shows North Korea's military test-firing an intermediate and long-range ballistic missile Jan. 30, the North's official Korean Central News Agency reported Jan. 31. Yonhap

North Korea announced Monday it test-fired a Hwasong-12 "intermediate and long-range" ballistic missile (IRBM) the previous day, with Pyongyang's state media reporting that the accuracy of the weapons system "being produced and deployed" had been confirmed.

"The evaluation test-fire of Hwasong 12-type ground-to-ground intermediate- and long-range ballistic missile was conducted Sunday under a plan of the Academy of Defense Science, the Second Economy Commission and other institutions concerned," the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said in an English-language report.

The launch was aimed to "selectively evaluate the missile being produced and deployed and to verify the overall accuracy of the weapon system," it added. "It confirmed the accuracy, security and effectiveness of the operation of the Hwasong 12-type weapon system under production."

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un did not attend the launch.

The "highest-angle launch system" was used in consideration of the security of neighboring nations, the KCNA reported, without providing other flight details in the five-paragraph report.

The KCNA then released photos of the missile being launched from a transporter erector launcher (TEL), along with an image of the Earth taken from space by a camera installed in the missile warhead.

The Hwasong-12 is classified as an IRBM with a range of 3,000-5,500 kilometers by the South Korean and U.S. military authorities. The North previously launched one in September 2017.

South Korea's military said the latest missile, fired from the Jagang Province bordering China, flew about 800 km with a maximum altitude of 2,000 km before landing in the East Sea.

US worried North Korea could return to nuclear and ICBM tests 2022-01-31 10:25  |  North Korea
Sunday's launch marked the unpredictable North's seventh such show of force this year and its longest-range missile test since the launching of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in November 2017.

The latest test came just three days after the North fired two "surface-to-surface tactical guided missiles" toward the East Sea, which followed Pyongyang's test-firing of two apparent cruise missiles two days earlier.

It conducted four other launches earlier this month, two of which it claimed were of a hypersonic missile.

These are the most missiles the North has fired in a single month since Kim took power in late 2011. The North carried out six launches in both March and July 2014.

President Moon Jae-in presided over a rare session of the National Security Council, the first in about a year, Sunday. He said the North was seen as inching closer to scrapping its self-imposed moratorium on its nuclear weapons and ICBM tests.

Earlier this month, Pyongyang made a veiled threat to lift the years-long moratorium, as Washington has stepped up sanctions pressure on its regime amid a protracted deadlock in their denuclearization talks.

Experts say the Hwasong-12 launch signals that the North may be on the cusp of lifting the moratorium.

"A fresh nuclear or ICBM test now seems like just a matter of time," Lim Eul-chul, a professor at the Institute for Far Eastern Studies, said. "The North is expected to continue with more military activities to pressure the U.S., without seriously taking into account external factors, such as the Beijing Olympics or the upcoming presidential election in South Korea."

In Washington, a senior Biden administration official reportedly expressed concerns over Pyongyang's possible resumption of nuclear weapons and long-range missile testing.

"We believe it is completely appropriate and completely correct to start having some serious discussions," the unnamed official was quoted as saying by Reuters, Sunday (local time).

U.S. Department of Defense press secretary John Kirby also said Washington was "laser focused on the challenges to the Korean Peninsula coming out of Pyongyang," and vowed to stay "ready militarily on the peninsula and in the region." (Yonhap)