SEOUL – The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) reported this Sunday that it has detected the launch of an unidentified projectile from North Korea and towards the Sea of Japan, the fourth Pyongyang test so far this month.
The South Korean army statement did not provide more information about the projectile, while the Japan Coast Guard reported that it could be a missile ballistic and that it would have fallen into the water in the early hours.
The armies of South Korea and Japan are currently analyzing the launch to clarify more details.
It is the fourth launch of this type that Pyongyang carries out this January, after the days 5 and 11 will fire what he claims are hypersonic missiles, and that the day 14 launched two guided missiles from a train after threatening to respond “stronger” to new US sanctions. against North Koreans.
Last week the United States approved sanctions against North Korean citizens whom it accuses of providing materials and technology for the regime’s weapons program from abroad, to which North Korea responded with a third launch and a fourth launched today.
The United States ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, also pointed out the previous week that Washington is pressing for the Security Council to impose additional sanctions on the Asian country as punishment for all the launches it has carried out since last September.
Washington estimates that North Korea used ballistic missiles in these tests, which violates previous sanctioning resolutions approved since 2006 as punishment for the Program of North Korean arms.
In a message broadcast in the Year Again, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un avoided sending a message to the US and assured that the regime’s priority is the national economy and the reinforcement of national defense.
Kim rejected US offers last year to try to resume the dialogue on denuclearization, stalled since 2006.