North Korea fires warning after Biden’s move
North Korea yesterday 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 defences in the region amid pandemicrelated border closures and a freeze in nuclear diplomacy with the US.
Some experts say North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is going back to a tried-and-true technique of pressuring the US and neighbours with missile launches and outrageous threats before offering negotiations meant to extract concessions.
North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said yesterday’s exercise was aimed at checking the alert posture of its army’s rail-borne missile regiment.
The troops fired two “tactical guided” missiles that accurately struck a sea target, the report said.
The North’s Rodong Sinmun newspaper published photos of what appeared to be two different missiles above rail cars engulfed in smoke.
Cheong Seong-Chang, an analyst at the private Sejong Institute in South Korea, said the North likely staged a launch that hadn’t been previously planned to demonstrate its opposition toward US sanctions.
The Biden administration on Thursday imposed sanctions on five North Koreans over their roles in obtaining equipment and technology for the North’s missile programs in its response to the North’s previous tests this month.
The announcement by the Treasury Department came just hours after North Korea said Kim oversaw a successful test of a hypersonic missile on Wednesday that he claimed would greatly increase the country’s nuclear “war deterrent”.
Hours before yesterday’s launch, the KCNA carried a statement attributed to an unidentified spokesperson of the North’s Foreign Ministry, who insisted the new sanctions underscore hostile US intent aimed at “isolating and stifling” the North.