Range probably 4500 kilometers
South Korea reports North Korean test of medium-range missile
Passersby at a train station in South Korea’s capital Seoul watch a TV report on the current missile test in North Korea
© Jung Yeon-je / AFP
South Korean military says North Korea has tested another missile. According to experts, it is a medium-range ballistic missile.
North Korea has tested another missile. The South Korean military said North Korea fired a “medium-range ballistic missile at a steep angle” at the sea east of the Korean peninsula on Sunday. The rocket reached a maximum altitude of 2000 kilometers and covered about 800 kilometers in half an hour.
According to experts, it was probably a medium-range missile that has a significantly longer range with a less steep trajectory. North Korea last tested such a missile in 2017, wrote expert Joseph Dempsey from the International Institute for Strategic Studies on Twitter.
At that time, North Korea tested a Hwasong-12 rocket that traveled 787 kilometers and reached an altitude of 2111 kilometers. At the time, experts assumed a maximum range of 4,500 kilometers – which would make an attack on the US territory of Guam in the western Pacific possible.
Japan’s government spokesman Hirokazu Matsuno said the missile launched on Sunday was a “medium or long-range ballistic missile.”
North Korea’s seventh missile test in 2022
Sunday’s missile test was the seventh this year. The last time North Korea tested so many weapons was in 2019 after negotiations between ruler Kim Jong Un and then US President Donald Trump broke down. Since then, talks with the US have stalled completely.
North Korea last tested missiles and cruise missiles on Tuesday and Thursday. According to the state news agency KCNA, long-range cruise missiles were fired at a “target island 1,800 kilometers away” during the test on Tuesday. At the start on Thursday, two “tactical guided missiles” hit a “target island”.
Since the beginning of January, North Korea has conducted at least four other weapons tests, including hypersonic missiles. By definition, hypersonic missiles travel five times faster than sound and are difficult to intercept.