North Korea launches an intercontinental ballistic missile

North Korea on Friday launched an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), continuing its series of weapons tests, the number of which this year has reached an unprecedented level, South Korea’s National Defense General Staff announced.

The staff “estimates that North Korea launched an ICBM,” a defense ministry spokesman told AFP, without elaborating.

The launch of the — at least one — ballistic missile was in an easterly direction, toward the East Sea, also known as the Sea of ​​Japan.

It is the second North Korean missile test in as many days.

Tensions on the Korean peninsula have skyrocketed this year. Nuclear-armed North Korea has carried out a record number of weapons tests, including for the first time since 2017, intercontinental ballistic missiles, in defiance of UN Security Council resolutions that are supposed to bar it from developing ballistic missiles.

South Korean and US officials have warned for months that Pyongyang may also be preparing to conduct another nuclear weapon test, its first since 2017 and seventh in its history, an assessment recently shared by the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The recent joint US-South Korean military high schools, some of which Japan has also participated in, have further heightened tensions. Pyongyang characterizes the high schools as rehearsals for an invasion of its territory.

RES-EMP

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