Another weapon test: North Korea is said to have used rocket launchers – insecurity in the region is growing
Created: 06/13/2022, 14:02
By: Christoph Gschossmann
North Korea has probably tested missiles again - in South Korea the uncertainty is growing.
© Lee Jin-Man/AP/dpa
South Korea reports that North Korea has conducted missile tests again.
The United States has long warned of an imminent North Korean nuclear test.
Seoul / Munich - Nuclear threat from rocket fire between North and South Korea?
Concerns are growing in South Korea after North Korea's military fired projectiles from an artillery missile system, South Korea said.
The military on June 12 tracked some projectiles that could have come from a multiple rocket launcher, the General Staff said.
How many suspected rockets were fired and how far the projectiles flew was initially unclear.
North Korea's latest missile test was conducted between 8:07 a.m. and 11:03 a.m. local time on Sunday, according to South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff.
"While strengthening our military's surveillance and vigilance, South Korea and the United States are working closely together and maintaining a thorough preparedness," the JCS said.
At the end of an important party meeting on Friday, North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un called for his country's "national defense capability" to be strengthened in the face of further "deterioration" on the Korean peninsula.
Shots from conventional North Korean rocket launchers with a short range and low altitude would not necessarily be reported immediately, the South Korean news agency Yonhap quoted a spokesman for the presidential office in Seoul as saying.
North Korea conducts several tests with nuclear-capable missiles
Uncertainty in the region is growing after several tests of nuclear-capable missiles by self-proclaimed nuclear power North Korea this year.
UN resolutions ban the heavily isolated country from testing ballistic missiles capable of carrying one or more nuclear warheads.
Ballistic missiles are usually surface-to-surface missiles.
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The country has also been testing other weapon systems, such as multiple rocket launchers, since the beginning of January.
According to its own statements, it also tested hypersonic projectiles that fly maneuverably and at high speed at low altitudes.
These projectiles can thus more easily overcome a missile defense.
The United States and South Korea have been warning of an impending North Korean nuclear test for weeks, which would be the first since 2017.
(cg with dpa)
Russia has already threatened to use its nuclear weapons in the Ukraine war. According to a peace research institute, the scenario of a nuclear war is as real as it has been in decades.