North Korea: Kim Jong-un wants to warn USA and South Korea with missile test
The North Korean dictator has again shot an ICBM into the sea – to “instill fear in the enemy”. The test was a reaction to “the wild, provocative and aggressive major war exercises” between the United States and South Korea.
North Korea sees the recent ICBM test as a warning to the US and South Korea about their ongoing joint military exercises. Ruler Kim Jong-un led the test on Thursday, stressing the need to “instill fear in the enemy,” state media reported on Friday. Kim accused the US and South Korea of open hostility.
According to the reports, the test of the ICBM of type Hwasong-17 serve as a nuclear deterrent. It should also be “a stronger warning to the enemy”. The missile is the largest ICBM in its own arsenal. ICBMs that have a range of more than 5,500 kilometers are considered the most important means of delivery nuclear weapons. Widely isolated North Korea is barred from testing ICBMs and other ballistic missiles by UN decisions. The rocket was launched from Pyongyang International Airport and flew about 1,000 kilometers towards the open sea, it said. It ended up in the target area in the sea between the Korean Peninsula and Japan.
The test was a reaction to “the wild, provocative and aggressive major war exercises” in the United States South Korea been. Both countries deny North Korea’s accusation that their joint maneuvers served as preparations for an attack. The missile test was registered by South Korea’s military on Thursday, hours before South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol’s visit to Japan began. In Tokyo, Yoon and Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida called for closer security cooperation between their countries and the United States.
Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have escalated significantly since last year. North Korea increased the scope of its missile tests. The USA and South Korea resumed full-scale military exercises.
