North Korea fired two suspected short-range ballistic missiles Thursday, adding to its biggest monthly barrage of weapons tests since August 2019 and forcing its nuclear program back onto the Biden administration’s agenda.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the military “detected two projectiles that appeared to be short-range ballistic missiles,” fired at around 8 a.m. from around North Korea’s eastern city of Hamhung toward waters off the nearby coast. It hasn’t yet provided details on the distance the missiles traveled. There was no indication of a projectile landing within Japan’s exclusive economic zone, Kyodo News reported an unnamed Japanese official as saying.
Pyongyang has ratcheted up tensions with the launches of weapons designed to hit U.S. allies South Korea and Japan. Earlier this week, North Korea fired what appeared to be two cruise missiles. It has also fired two “hypersonic missiles” designed to use high speeds and maneuverability to evade U.S.-operated interceptors as well as conducted its second test of a system to launch ballistic missiles from train cars.
Kim Jong Un’s regime has also warned the Biden administration it might end its almost five-year halt on tests of nuclear devices and long-range missiles to deliver them to the U.S. mainland.
Forcing a crisis with Washington may be 38-year-old Kim’s best chance to break a diplomatic stalemate that has kept crippling sanctions in place and left the economy smaller than when he took power a decade ago. The Biden administration has said the door is open for Kim to return to the nuclear talks stalled for nearly three years and indicated it could offer incentives for disarmament steps.
Kim might use the national holiday on Feb. 16 marking what would’ve been the 80th birthday of his late father, Kim Jong Il, to show off his newest weaponry. Satellite imagery of Pyongyang shows signs of preparations for a military parade, the DongA newspaper reported, an event North Korea has often used to unveil its advances to the world.
