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TV broadcast of the rocket launch on May 4th: No pictures have yet been published from the current test
Photo: JUNG YEON-JE / AFP
For the second time in a week, a North Korean missile test put the military in South Korea and Japan on alert on Saturday morning.
The South Korean military general staff said the unidentified missile was fired toward the Sea of Japan on Saturday.
It now seems clear that the ballistic missile was apparently shot down by a submarine.
Such missiles are considered particularly dangerous, especially when they are capable of carrying nuclear warheads.
North Korea last tested a ballistic missile on Wednesday.
In total, North Korea has conducted missile tests on eleven days so far this year, during which up to 15 ballistic missiles were apparently tested in addition to short-range anti-missile weapons.
One of the missiles fired was an ICBM, but some of the registered medium-range missiles may also be capable of carrying nuclear warheads.
North Korea probably doesn't have that yet, but may be working on changing that as soon as possible.
"We will continue to take steps to strengthen and develop our country's nuclear capabilities as quickly as possible," said head of state Kim Jong Un at a military parade in Pyongyang at the end of April, according to the state news agency KCNA.
Observing states are taking this seriously, and South Korea in particular sees it as a direct threat.
The Korean entities have been in perpetual conflict with each other since the peninsula was divided in 1948 during the Cold War.
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A spokeswoman for the US State Department said on Friday that Pyongyang could carry out a nuclear test "as early as this month".
Accordingly, the repair of tunnel structures on a well-known North Korean test site was observed.
Experts see this as possible preparations for an upcoming test.
It would be the first since 2017, when North Korea is subject to strict international sanctions because of its missile and nuclear weapons program.
North Korea is a totalitarian socialist state that is probably one of the poorest nations in the world.
In international comparisons, the largely isolated state is usually missing because there are hardly any verifiable figures on its economic and social situation.
Rocket testing: what is normal?
There is no question that the current missile tests stand for an intensification of the North Korean missile program: since January 5, North Korea has tested more missiles than in all of 2021. Most recently, there were as many tests in 2017 as North Korea had over 20 missiles over the year tested.
Since then, the country has only occasionally tested medium or long-range weapons - between 2018 and 2022 less overall than in spring of this year alone.
The sequence of this year's missile tests almost borders on a performance show with which North Korea demonstrated the entire breadth of its arsenal.
These included short-, medium-, and long-range missiles, tactical munitions with a nuclear option, at least two hypersonic missiles, missiles fired from moving trains, and now probably a submarine-launched missile.
However, it is no surprise that North Korea has such weapon systems: the state last tested its submarine weapons in 2015, 2016, 2019 and 2021.
pat/AFP/AP
