SEOUL, South Korea (AP) 鈥� North Korea on Monday fired two suspected ballistic missiles into the sea in its fourth weapons launch this month, South Korea鈥檚 military said, with the apparent goal of demonstrating its military might amid paused diplomacy with the United States and pandemic border closures.
South Korea鈥檚 Joint Chiefs of Staff said the North likely fired two short-range ballistic missiles from an area in Sunan, the location of Pyongyang鈥檚 international airport, but didn鈥檛 immediately say how far they flew.
The launch was also detected by Japan, where Prime Minister Fumio Kishida instructed his government to do its utmost to gather information about the missiles, which Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi said landed outside the Japan鈥檚 exclusive economic zone.
Japan鈥檚 Coast Guard issued a warning for vessels traveling around Japanese waters to watch out for falling objects, but no immediate damage was reported to vessels or aircraft.
鈥淲e strongly condemn the series of North Korean actions, including the repeated launches of ballistic missiles, that threaten the peace and security of Japan, the region, and the international community,鈥� said Hirokazu Matsuno, Tokyo鈥檚 chief cabinet secretary.
The launch came after the North conducted a pair of flight tests of a purported hypersonic missile on Jan. 5 and Jan. 11 and also test-fired ballistic missiles from a train Friday in an apparent reprisal over fresh sanctions imposed by the Biden administration last week for its continuing test launches.
North Korea has been ramping up tests in recent months of new missiles designed to overwhelm missile defenses in the region.
Some experts say North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is going back to a tried-and-true technique of pressuring the U.S. and regional neighbors with missile launches and outrageous threats before offering negotiations meant to extract concessions.
A U.S.-led diplomatic push aimed at convincing North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons program collapsed in 2019 after the Trump administration rejected the North鈥檚 demands for major sanctions relief in exchange for a partial surrender of its nuclear capabilities.
Kim has since pledged to further expand a nuclear arsenal he clearly sees as his strongest guarantee of survival, despite the country鈥檚 economy suffering major setbacks amid pandemic-related border closures and persistent U.S.-led sanctions.
His government has so far rejected the Biden administration鈥檚 call to resume dialogue without preconditions, saying that Washington must first abandon its 鈥渉ostile policy,鈥� a term Pyongyang mainly uses to describe sanctions and combined U.S.-South Korea military exercises.
Kim Dong-yub, a professor at Seoul鈥檚 University of North Korean Studies, said the North may have conducted another launch to pressure Washington and could continue to dial up its testing activity after vowing stronger action over what it perceives as U.S. hostility.
Last week, the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on five North Koreans over their roles in obtaining equipment and technology for the North鈥檚 missile programs in its response to the North鈥檚 earlier tests this month.
The State Department ordered sanctions against another North Korean, a Russian man and a Russian company for their broader support of North Korea鈥檚 weapons of mass destruction activities, and the Biden administration also said it would pursue additional U.N. sanctions over the North鈥檚 continued tests.
The announcement of the sanctions just came hours after North Korean state media said Kim Jong Un oversaw a successful test of a hypersonic missile on Tuesday, which was the country鈥檚 second test of the system in a week, and claimed that the weapon would greatly increase the country鈥檚 鈥渨ar deterrent.鈥�
The North also on Friday fired two short-range ballistic missiles from a train in an apparent retaliation against the fresh U.S. sanctions tied to the hypersonic tests. Friday鈥檚 test came hours after the North鈥檚 Foreign Ministry issued a statement berating the Biden administration over the new sanctions and warned of 鈥渟tronger and certain reaction鈥� if Washington maintains its confrontational stance.
A U.S.-led diplomatic push aimed at convincing North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons program collapsed in 2019 after the Trump administration rejected the North鈥檚 demands for major sanctions relief in exchange for a partial surrender of its nuclear capabilities.
Kim has since pledged to further expand a nuclear arsenal he clearly sees as his strongest guarantee of survival, despite the country鈥檚 economy suffering major setbacks amid pandemic-related border closures and persistent U.S.-led sanctions.
His government has so far rejected the Biden administration鈥檚 call to resume dialogue without preconditions, saying that Washington must first abandon its 鈥渉ostile policy,鈥� a term Pyongyang mainly uses to describe sanctions and combined U.S.-South Korea military exercises.
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AP writer Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo contributed to this report.
Kim Tong-hyung, The Associated Press
