If the firing is confirmed, it would be Pyongyang’s sixth ballistic missile launch in 2022 and the seventh of all missiles overall.
Kim Jong-un’s regime is ramping up its missile tests in 2022 and has said it will strengthen its defenses against the United States and evaluate “resuming all temporarily suspended activities,” according to North Korea’s state-run KCNA news agency.
North Korea claimed to have successfully fired hypersonic missiles on January 5 and 11, then on January 14 what were believed to be short-range ballistic missiles from a railroad car.
Pyongyang is prohibited from developing ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons under international law.
After the train car test, a spokesman for the North Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs reprimanded Washington for its stance against Pyongyang’s weapons development. “If the US takes such a confrontational stance, the DPRK will be forced to respond more forcefully and confidently,” the spokesman said, referring to the country by its official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
In a recent statement from KCNA, a spokesman defended North Korea’s right to bolster its weapons.