Kim is again trigger-happy

Seoul – North Korea fired a ballistic missile yesterday, Seoul said, a week after Kim Jong-un vowed to boost Pyongyang’s nuclear arsenal and just days before the South inaugurates a new president.

Pyongyang has conducted 14 weapons tests since January, including firing an intercontinental ballistic missile at full range for the first time since 2017.

Last week, Kim oversaw a huge military parade, vowed to rapidly expand and improve his nuclear arsenal and warned of possible “pre-emptive” strikes – as satellite imagery indicates he may soon resume nuclear testing.

The test yesterday came days before the inauguration on Tuesday of South Korea’s President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol, who has vowed to take a hard line with North Korea and ramp-up security cooperation with the US after years of failed diplomacy.

North Korea fired the ballistic missile at in the early hours of the morning, Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said.

The missile flew 470km and reached an altitude of 780km, the JCS said, adding it was a “blatant violation of UN Security Council resolutions”.

Japan’s mininstry of defence confirmed the launch and the missile’s trajectory, saying it had landed “outside of Japan’s exclusive economic zone”. –