Pyongyang had not conducted tests with such frequency since 2019 and the failure of negotiations between Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump.
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North Korea fired “a projectile no identified” in the Sea of Japan, announced the general staff of South Korea, Thursday, January 27. The resumption of ballistic tests in Pyongyang is confirmed: it is the sixth shooting recorded since the beginning of 2022, i.e. an unprecedented activity over a month since 2019 and the failure of negotiations between the North Korean President, Kim Jong -one, and Donald Trump, then President of the United States.
On Tuesday, North Korea had carried out two cruise missile tests, according to Seoul, which does not fall under current UN sanctions. North Korea also said it tested hypersonic missiles on Jan. 5 and 11 and ballistic missiles on Jan. 14 and 17, which are banned by the United Nations. In response, the UN Security Council met and the United States imposed new sanctions.
Pyongyang, on the other hand, has not tested intercontinental ballistic missiles or nuclear weapons since the stalemate in dialogue with Washington. But the country has hinted it could resume nuclear and long-range weapons testing, on hiatus since a self-imposed moratorium in 2017.
These trials come at a delicate time for the region: China, the only major ally of the North Korean regime, is hosting the Winter Olympics in February and South Korea is holding a presidential election in March. Pyongyang is preparing to celebrate the 80th birthday of late leader Kim Jong-il in February and then the 110th birthday of Kim Il-sung, the country’s founding leader, in April.