North Korea escalated the tension in the Korean peninsula when the country on Tuesday morning fired another ballistic missile into the sea in less than one week after the first missile launch. The missile launch has made South Korea and Japan fret over the security threat in that axis.
National Daily gathered that the Joint Chiefs of Staff of South Korea highlighted that the missile, fired towards the sea, east of the peninsula on Tuesday at about 7.27am (2227 GMT Monday), flew 700 kilometres (435 miles) at an altitude of around 60 kilometres (37 miles) at Mach 10 speed.
“Hypersonic missiles travel at speeds of Mach 5 and higher and can manoeuvre mid-flight, making them harder to track and intercept,” it was revealed.
The military authorities in South Korea on Tuesday, therefore, cautioned that the second missile launch by North Korea in less than a week indicated signs of progress in developing the missile capability of the neighbouring country. The military authorities of South Korea also expressed concerns that the “suspected ballistic missile” launched Tuesday had reached hypersonic speeds — a sign of “progress” from last week’s test.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan noted that the missile launched by North Korea in the early hours of Tuesday landed outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone. The Prime Minister declared the missile exercise as “extremely regrettable”, though no damage has been reported.
US Forces in Korea were gathered to have warned that the missile test by North Korea “highlights the destabilizing impact of the DPRK’s illicit weapons program,”.
North Korea fired the missile in the early hours of Tuesday after the UN Security Council held a session in New York to deliberate on the North Korea missile test last week, which Korea described as a hypersonic missile. However, South Korea disputed the development of such weapons by the North.
Six countries, including the U.S. and Japan, had earlier urged North Korea “engage in meaningful dialogue towards our shared goal of complete denuclearization”.
North Korea has been successfully developing its military technology since Kim Jong Un became the leader of the country over a decade ago, with sanctions from the international community. Kim at a crucial meeting last month of the ruling party in North Korea, had insisted on sustaining developing North Korea defence capabilities.
National Daily leant that North Korea has continued to ignore the U.S. requests for dialogue.