New weapons tests: North Korea fires two cruise missiles
Created: 08/17/2022, 21:28
A news program showing a speech by North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un will be broadcast at a train station in Seoul after the weapons tests on August 17, 2022.
© Photo by ANTHONY WALLACE / AFP
North Korea fired two cruise missiles on Wednesday, continuing its record-breaking streak of weapons tests this year.
The isolated country may be preparing nuclear weapons tests.
Seoul/Pyongyang- North Korea fired two cruise missiles during another weapons test on Wednesday (17 August), according to South Korean information.
The two suspected guided missiles flew in the direction of the Yellow Sea, said the Ministry of Defense in Seoul.
Pyongyang thus ended a roughly month-long hiatus in a record-breaking series of weapons tests this year.
The US fears more.
US fears North Korea could prepare nuclear weapons test
North Korea has conducted numerous weapons tests since the beginning of the year.
By June, the country had already tested 31 ballistic missiles, more than in any previous year.
Depending on the design, ballistic ICBMs can be equipped with nuclear warheads.
South Korea and the US fear that Pyongyang is preparing a nuclear weapons test.
It would be the first such test since 2017. Statements by North Korean government officials could also "indicate the use of tactical nuclear weapons," the United States said.
North Korea's ruler Kim Jong-un threatened to use nuclear weapons in July this year in the event of military conflicts with the United States and South Korea.
This picture provided by the North Korean state news agency KCNA shows Kim Jong-un, ruler of North Korea, before testing a new type of nuclear-capable ICBM in March 2022. © picture alliance/dpa/kcna |
-
The largely isolated North Korea is subject to a large number of international sanctions because of its nuclear weapons and missile program.
UN resolutions actually ban North Korea from testing nuclear-capable missiles.
Tests of cruise missiles, however, are not subject to the sanctions against the largely isolated country.
According to the South Korean news
agency Yonhap
, it is the first North Korean cruise missile test since January.
North Korea announced plans to expand relations with Russia
North Korea recently presented itself as an ally of Russia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un announced on Monday (15 August) that they intend to strengthen ties between their countries.
In a message to Kim on the day Korea was liberated from Japanese colonial rule, Putin wrote that both sides share a tradition of bilateral friendship and cooperation, North Korean state media reported.
Putin was quoted as saying it was in the interest of the people of both countries to develop relations.
It would also help "bolster security and stability in the Korean peninsula and throughout the Northeast Asian region."
Russia celebrates May 9th: Military parade in Moscow
View photo gallery
After the start of the Ukraine war, Kim Jong-un pledged his political support to Russia.
After Russia and Syria, North Korea was the third country in the world to recognize the two self-proclaimed "People's Republics" of Donetsk and Luhansk as independent states.
As a result, Ukraine severed diplomatic relations with North Korea.
(AFP/dpa/bme)
