North Korea tests longest-range missile since 2017
North Korea conducted its largest missile test since 2017 on Sunday, taking the nuclear-armed country a step closer to resuming long-range testing.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff reported that a projectile believed to be a single ballistic missile was launched about 7:52 a.m. (2252 GMT) from North Korea’s Jagang Province toward the ocean off its east coast.
The test was North Korea’s seventh missile test this month. The flurry of tests exhibits the country’s intent to pressure the Biden administration over long-stalled nuclear negotiations.
“The United States condemns these actions and calls on [North Korea] to refrain from further destabilising acts,” the US military’s Indo-Pacific command said in a statement after Sunday’s launch.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in called an emergency National Security Council meeting.
Moon described the North’s latest tests as a violation of UN Security Council resolutions and a “challenge toward the international society’s efforts to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula, stabilize peace and find a diplomatic solution” to the nuclear standoff. The North “should stop its actions that create tensions and pressure and respond to the dialogue offers by the international community including South Korea and the United States,” Moon said, according to his office.