N. KOREA FIRES MISSILES IN RESPONSE TO SANCTIONS
North Korea today said it test launched ballistic missiles from a train in what was seen as an apparent retaliation against fresh sanctions imposed by the Biden administration.
The report by the North state media came a day after South Korea’s military said it detected the North firing two missiles into the sea in its third weapons launch this month.
The launch came hours after Pyongyang’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement berating the United States for imposing new sanctions over the North’s previous tests and warned of stronger and more explicit action if Washington maintains its “confrontational stance.”
North Korea in recent months has been ramping up tests of new missiles designed to overwhelm missile defenses in the region amid pandemic-related border closures and a freeze in nuclear diplomacy with the United
States.
Some experts say North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is going back to a tried-and-true technique of pressuring the United States and neighbors with missile launches and outrageous threats before offering negotiations meant to extract concessions.
North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said Friday’s exercise was aimed at checking the alert posture of its army’s railborne missile regiment. The troops swiftly moved to the launch site after receiving the missile-test order on short notice and fired two “tactical guided” missiles that accurately struck a sea target, the report said.
Cheong Seong-Chang, an analyst at the private Sejong Institute in South Korea, said the missiles fired from rail cars appeared to be a solidfuel, short-range weapon the North has apparently modeled after Russia’s Iskander mobile ballistic system.