North Korea Conducts Ballistic Missile Test
Published Jan. 4, 2022 | Updated Jan. 5, 2022, 5:15 p.m. ET
The test involved a hypersonic missile, the North said, the latest in a series of tests it has conducted this fall.
SEOUL — North Korea launched a ballistic missile off its east coast on Wednesday, the South Korean military said, days after the North’s leader, Kim Jong-un, said his country should focus on bolstering food production in the new year while continuing to strengthen its military power.
South Korea’s military said its analysts and U.S. officials were studying the trajectory and other flight data of the North Korean missile to learn more.
When North Korea last conducted a missile test, on Oct. 19, it tested a newly developed submarine-launched ballistic missile off its east coast in violation of multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions banning the country from developing or testing ballistic missiles or nuclear devices.
“It’s truly regrettable that North Korea has repeatedly launched missiles since last year,” Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan said on Wednesday. “The Japanese government will strengthen warning and surveillance more than ever.”
On Thursday, the North’s official Korean Central News Agency said the weapon tested a day earlier was a hypersonic missile. The North conducted its first test of the new missile in September. In the test on Wednesday, the missile hit a target about 435 miles away, the news agency said.
Following the launch, the office of President Moon Jae-in of South Korea repeated its call for dialogue with the North, noting that the latest missile test took place when the region could hardly afford instability. China is set to host the Winter Olympics in February, and South Korea will hold its presidential election on March 9.
North Korea launched its missile hours before Mr. Moon attended a groundbreaking ceremony on the east coast, where engineers started work on Wednesday to extend the South’s rail line by 69 miles to the inter-Korean border.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/04/world/asia/north-korea-ballistic-missile.html
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