North Korea has tested its most powerful missile since 2017, ramping up the firepower for its record-breaking seventh launch this month as Seoul warned nuclear and long-range tests could be next.
In the history of Pyongyang, never has there been as many missiles in a calendar month before and last week threatened to abandon a nearly five-year-long self-imposed moratorium on testing long-range and nuclear weapons.
North Korea has doubled-down on their leader Kim Jong Un’s vow to upgrade the regime’s armed forces, flexing Pyongyang’s military muscles despite biting international sanctions.
South Korea stated that their northern counterpart appeared to be following a “similar pattern” to 2017 — when tensions were last at breaking-point on the peninsula — warning Pyongyang could soon restart nuclear and intercontinental missile tests.
In a statement following an emergency meeting of Seoul’s National Security Council, South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in said North Korea “has come close to destroying the moratorium declaration.”
South Korea’s military said it had “detected an intermediate-range ballistic missile fired at a lofted angle eastward towards the East Sea.”
A lofted trajectory involves missiles being fired at a high angle instead of out to their full range.
Sunday’s ballistic missile was estimated to have hit a maximum altitude of 2,000 kilometers and flown around 800 kilometers for half an hour, Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said.
