North Korea fired off at least two suspected ballistic missiles Sunday toward waters off its east coast, adding to a record number of launches this year that have ratcheted up regional tensions.
Japanese government officials said there were at least two missiles launched and both apparently fell outside of its exclusive economic zone. Further details were not immediately available.
This year, Kim Jong Un’s regime has already fired off more than 65 ballistic missiles, the most in his decade in power and in defiance of United Nations resolutions that prohibit the launches. He has stepped up provocations in recent months in a display of anger at joint military drills in the region by the U.S. and its allies South Korea and Japan.
Kim was on hand to oversee the test of a new solid-fuel rocket engine, state media said Friday. The engine could enhance the North Korean leader’s ability to fire off quick-strike, longer-range missiles for delivering nuclear warheads.
The missile tests underscore the challenges the Biden administration faces in trying to slow down Kim’s nuclear ambitions. The North Korean leader is finding space to ramp up provocations and conduct tit-for-tat military moves against the US and its allies as Biden focuses on Russia’s war in Ukraine.
North Korea on Nov. 18 test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile designed to carry a nuclear warhead to the US mainland. Kim’s daughter made her first official appearance in state media at the launch, signaling there’s another generation to take over the Cold War’s last continuous family dynasty and it will depend on nuclear weapons for its survival.
The North Korean leader has been modernizing his arsenal by adding missiles that are quicker to deploy, maneuverable in flight and more difficult for U.S.-operated interceptors in the region to shoot down.
The U.S., Japan and South Korea have warned that Pyongyang could soon raise tensions even higher with a nuclear test, which would be its first in five years and seventh overall. Washington, Tokyo and Seoul have all promised a harsh and coordinated punishment it Pyongyang goes ahead with a nuclear test, which would also be a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions.
The nuclear test might be used to advance Kim’s pursuit of miniaturized nuclear warheads to mount on missiles to strike South Korea and Japan, which host the bulk of America’s troops in Asia.
The U.S. push to isolate Russia over Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine, coupled with increasing animosity toward China, has allowed Kim to strengthen his nuclear deterrent without fear of facing more sanctions at the Security Council. There’s almost no chance Russia or China, which have veto power at the council, would support any measures against North Korea, as they did in 2017 following a series of weapons tests that prompted former President Donald Trump to warn of “fire and fury.”
The two countries in late May vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution drafted by the U.S. to ratchet up sanctions on North Korea for its ballistic missile tests this year.
(Hiromi Horie and Kanoko Matsuyama contributed to this report.)
