North Korean leader Kim Jong Un once again showed that he is not going to let up on his country’s frequent ballistic missile tests, regardless of the international condemnation. Pyongyang carried out the latest ballistic missile test on Sunday, firing a medium-range projectile that flew about 310 miles. The rocket that was fired Sunday had a shorter range than the country’s most recent tests but appears to have been an “upgraded, extended-range version of the North’s solid-fuel submarine-launched missile,” reports Reuters. Japan said the missile landed in the Sea of Japan without reaching the country’s exclusive economic zone.
When North Korea fired a similar missile in February, the fact that it was powered by solid fuel was seen as particularly significant. Missiles that run on solid fuel can be fired immediately and don’t require the same labor-intensive process to prepare as liquid-fueled missiles. That means missiles can be fired before satellites can track them.
This latest launch comes merely a week after Pyongyang fired a rocket that it claimed could carry a nuclear warhead. Two missile tests in such a short period of time came shortly after South Korea’s new President Moon Jae-in took office with a platform that involved pushing for a more moderate approach to relations with North Korea. Now any hope for more diplomacy seems to be vanishing. The tests were “reckless and irresponsible actions throwing cold water over the hopes and desires of this new government and the international community for denuclearization and peace on the Korean peninsula,” South Korea’s foreign ministry said.
North Korea has now fired eight ballistic missile tests this year.
