North Korea fired a missile on Sunday February 27, hours after attributing responsibility for the conflict in Ukraine to the United States. The announcement of the launch was made by the South Korean army, which did not specify what type of projectile it was. The Japanese Coast Guard added that“An object that could be a ballistic missile” was launched from North Korea. It would have fallen back into the sea, east of the Korean peninsula.
This shot is the first since January 30. Pyongyang reportedly avoided carrying out missile tests during the Winter Olympics in Beijing, its traditional ally and main economic backer.
The latest launch could also materialize the threat made on January 20 by the Pyongyang regime to end the moratorium in place since 2017 on long-range missile launches and nuclear tests, to “to prepare even more for a long-term confrontation with the American imperialists”.
The January 30 test involved an intermediate-range ballistic missile. Pyongyang had not fired a missile of this type since 2017 and the moratorium decided within the framework of the drop in tensions on the peninsula in 2018, which had resulted in the first summit between the North Korean and American leaders, in Singapore between Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump. The last nuclear test dates back to September 2017 and the last intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launch in November of the same year.
New hardening
Since 2019 and the stalemate in talks with the Americans, Pyongyang has only launched short-range models, or even tested new capabilities such as cruise missiles or strategic sea-to-surface ballistic missiles (MSBS). ) that can start from a submarine.
A new hardening of its policy and a rise in tensions in the peninsula could complicate the task of the United States, whose attention has been focused for several months on the crisis in Ukraine, and of their South Korean allies, who elect their president. March 9.
Sunday’s shot follows Pyongyang’s first reaction to Russia’s offensive against Ukraine. In a comment posted on February 26 on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ri Ji-song, a researcher at the Society for the Study of International Politics, attributes full responsibility for the crisis to the United States, accused of to research “military supremacy” disregarding Russia’s security concerns. “The root cause of the Ukraine crisis lies in the authoritarianism and arbitrariness of the United States, which has clung to sanctions and unilateral pressure while seeking global hegemony”writes the researcher.
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