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North Korea dictator Kim Jong Un (archive image)
Photo: POOL / REUTERS
According to Seoul, North Korea fired two "unidentified projectiles" into the Sea of Japan.
The South Korean military did not provide any further information about the incident on Thursday morning (local time).
However, it could have been North Korea's first ballistic missile test since US President Joe Biden took office.
Corresponding analyzes should bring clarity here soon.
It was only at the weekend that Pyongyang had carried out a missile test.
However, these were two short-range non-ballistic missiles.
They were detonated a few days after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin visited South Korea.
This test had been rated by Biden and his experts as a comparatively soft signal - and had not provoked a sharp reaction from Washington.
However, that could look different if ballistic missile tests were actually carried out.
UN resolutions prohibit the isolated country from testing missiles that can also carry a nuclear warhead.
North Korea’s ruler Kim Jong Un recently called the US the country’s “greatest enemy”.
The US has 28,500 troops stationed in South Korea and a significant military presence in Japan.
There is currently no trace of rapprochement between the two countries
In recent years, Kim had relied on a rapprochement with Biden's predecessor Donald Trump in order to have sanctions that had been imposed because of the North Korean nuclear program lifted.
Both leaders met three times in person.
However, the last summit between Trump and Kim in Hanoi in February 2019 failed.
Since then, the negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang to dismantle the North Korean nuclear program have been on hold.
Tensions between North and South Korea also intensified again.
jok / AFP