NK fires missile days before South’s new president takes office

Kim Jong-un regime conducts another weapons launch ahead of May 10 inauguration in South Korea of hard-liner Yoon Suk-yeo.

Kim Jong-un reviews a parade to mark the 90th founding anniversary of the Korean People's Revolutionary Army. Picture: KCNA via AFP

North Korea fired a ballistic missile off its east coast on Wednesday, a weapons launch that comes just days before a more hardline South Korean president takes office.

The missile was fired at 12.03pm from Sunan, which is on the outskirts of Pyongyang and near the country’s international airport, South Korea’s military said. It reached an altitude of 800km and travelled 500km ­before falling into the waters ­between Korea and Japan, said Makoto Oniki, Japan’s Vice-­Defence Minister. South Korea ­issued a similar assessment.

“Since the beginning of this year, North Korea has repeatedly fired missiles in new ways and with extremely high frequency,” said Mr Oniki, calling the behaviour absolutely unacceptable.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff called the Wednesday launch a grave threat that undermined peace on the Korean Peninsula and beyond.

North Korea has conducted more than a dozen missile tests this year, beginning 2022 with a historic pace of weapons launches. The activity includes a full-range intercontinental ballistic missile launch in March that showed again that Pyongyang possesses a weapon that can reach the US mainland. It isn’t unusual for North Korea to conduct a weapons test as a new US or South Korean administration begins.

Kim Jong-un regime’s latest test comes ahead of Tuesday’s inauguration in Seoul of Yoon Suk-yeol, a conservative who wants to take a tougher line on North Korea’s provocations and human-rights violations. Mr Yoon will replace the pro-engagement President Moon Jae-in, who exchanged warm farewell letters with Kim last month.

At a military parade last week the 38-year-old dictator vowed to advance the country’s nuclear program as fast as possible and warned the weapons could be pre-emptively used if provoked. The newest ICBM, dubbed the Hwasong-17, was showcased in a night parade in Pyongyang.

Inter-Korean tensions have been rising. The US and South Korea recently concluded annual spring exercises that have long ­irritated the Kim regime, with plans to conduct combined air force drills next week. Mr Yoon backs a pre-emptive strike against North Korea, if necessary.

Kim Yo-jong, the dictator’s sister, has warned Seoul against taking a confrontational stance. In an April statement carried in state media, Ms Kim warned South Korea could face a “shower of fire” and a “miserable fate little short of total destruction and ruin”.

North Korea has also begun repairs and restoration work at its main nuclear test site. US and South Korean officials have expressed growing concern that the Kim regime could conduct its first nuclear test since 2017.

The Wall Street Journal