North Korea has posted photos purportedly taken during its most powerful missile launch in five years. The unique photographs shot from space depict sections of the Korean peninsula and its surroundings.
Pyongyang stated on Monday that it had launched an intermediate-range ballistic missile called the Hwasong-12 (IRBM). When fully charged, it can travel thousands of kilometers, bringing destinations such as the US territory of Guam within striking reach.
The latest test has sparked renewed concern within the international community.
Pyongyang has launched a record seven missile launches in the last month alone, an extraordinary flurry of activity fiercely criticized by the United States, South Korea, Japan, and other nations.
North Korea is prohibited from testing ballistic and nuclear missiles by the United Nations, which has imposed severe sanctions. The East Asian state, on the other hand, often ignores the restriction.
On Monday, US officials suggested that the latest increase of activities supported resuming discussions with Pyongyang.
After detecting the launch via their anti-missile systems, South Korea and Japan were the first to report it on Sunday.
They calculated it flew a respectable distance for an IRBM, travelling roughly 800 kilometers (497 miles) and reaching a height of 2,000 kilometers before landing in Japanese seas. The missile can reach up to 4,000 kilometers at maximum power and on a normal trajectory.
The missile launch was verified by North Korea’s state-run media on Monday. State media usually reports on the country’s renegade tests a day after they happen.
The missile test, according to the state news agency KCNA, was conducted to “verify its accuracy” It had been purposefully aimed to land away from the border “in consideration of the security of the neighboring countries”
Rare images were also published by state media, some of which they said were obtained by a camera mounted on the missile’s warhead.
One photograph appears to show the missile in mid-flight, while another appears to show the missile being launched.
Leader Kim Jong-un was not present for the launch on Sunday, as he was three weeks earlier for the launch of a hypersonic glide missile test, which is a more sophisticated sort of missile technology meant to avoid missile-detection systems. North Korea has only tested the missiles three times in all.
Pyongyang last tested the Hwasong-12 in 2017, when it was launched six times, twice over the Japanese island of Hokkaido, causing panic among locals.
Following Mr. Kim’s meeting with Mr. Trump in 2018, North Korea announced a moratorium on nuclear weapons and long-range intercontinental ballistic missile tests (ICBMs). However, as ties deteriorated the following year, Mr Kim stated that they were no longer obliged by the declaration.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in stated on Sunday that North Korea had “come close to destroying the moratorium declaration” with the latest launch.
There are several reasons for North Korea’s increased missile activity this year, which Kim first mentioned in his New Year speech.
