(Bloomberg) — North Korea may have fired a ballistic missile Tuesday that apparently splashed down in waters off its east coast, ratcheting up tensions with its second launch in about a week as it shows no signs of returning to stalled nuclear talks.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said North Korea launched an unidentified projectile toward waters east of the Korean Peninsula. The Japanese Coast Guard said the object appeared to be a ballistic missile and it likely already landed in waters outside of Japan’s exclusive economic zone.
No other details on the flight were immediately available. North Korea typically doesn’t comment on its launches until about a day after the fact.
The tests come days after leader Kim Jong Un told a top-level meeting of his ruling party he was more interested in bolstering his arsenal than returning to stalled nuclear talks with the U.S. In his remarks, Kim urged North Korea to focus on easing food shortages and containing Covid and suggested disarmament talks were a low priority in the coming months.
The latest launch follows what North Korea last week claimed was its second “hypersonic” missile test in about four months. South Korea’s Defense Ministry subsequently dismissed those claims, saying they appeared to be “exaggerated” and Pyongyang still hadn’t developed the necessary technology for a hypersonic glide vehicle.
North Korea Says Test Shows Progress Toward Hypersonic Missile
Nuclear disarmament talks broke down about two years ago under former President Donald Trump. In the meantime, Kim’s regime has continued to develop its nuclear weapons program, including with new weapons systems designed to evade interception by the U.S. and its allies.
How Kim Jong Un Keeps Advancing His Nuclear Program: QuickTake
The Biden administration has said the door is open for talks and indicated it would be willing to consider economic incentives to reward North Korea for taking steps to wind down its nuclear arsenal, which has only grown in size as disarmament discussions have sputtered.
At the same time, North Korea’s economy is now smaller than when Kim took power after his father, Kim Jong Il, died in December 2011, largely because of the sanctions to punish him for testing nuclear weapons and missiles that can deliver warheads to the U.S. mainland.
(Updates with details.)
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