The Fort Worth Press - North Korea test-fires most powerful missile since 2017

USD -
AED 3.672974
AFN 68.425216
ALL 93.007834
AMD 390.01331
ANG 1.81621
AOA 911.999957
ARS 998.249996
AUD 1.54345
AWG 1.8
AZN 1.699887
BAM 1.852776
BBD 2.034663
BDT 120.423833
BGN 1.85313
BHD 0.376872
BIF 2975.829027
BMD 1
BND 1.346811
BOB 6.963779
BRL 5.806301
BSD 1.007759
BTN 84.987093
BWP 13.673805
BYN 3.297919
BYR 19600
BZD 2.031252
CAD 1.40043
CDF 2864.99997
CHF 0.887045
CLF 0.035513
CLP 979.910444
CNY 7.243099
CNH 7.255902
COP 4479
CRC 514.586422
CUC 1
CUP 26.5
CVE 104.456686
CZK 23.962998
DJF 179.450744
DKK 7.067675
DOP 60.695052
DZD 134.182994
EGP 49.321298
ERN 15
ETB 122.993165
EUR 0.94762
FJD 2.27485
FKP 0.788387
GBP 0.78809
GEL 2.730243
GGP 0.788387
GHS 16.275027
GIP 0.788387
GMD 70.999767
GNF 8626.906515
GTQ 7.732614
GYD 209.363849
HKD 7.78093
HNL 25.442281
HRK 7.133336
HTG 132.50221
HUF 386.750254
IDR 15875.4431
ILS 3.748965
IMP 0.788387
INR 84.433209
IQD 1320.093319
IRR 42092.498493
ISK 139.630035
JEP 0.788387
JMD 159.538871
JOD 0.709102
JPY 155.900501
KES 129.500052
KGS 86.201845
KHR 4082.940274
KMF 466.349913
KPW 900.000286
KRW 1408.14273
KWD 0.307714
KYD 0.833937
KZT 496.700918
LAK 22131.335237
LBP 89600.701953
LKR 294.541861
LRD 189.957415
LSL 18.103174
LTL 2.95274
LVL 0.60489
LYD 4.882485
MAD 10.020131
MDL 18.159255
MGA 4702.502532
MKD 58.284107
MMK 2097.999867
MNT 3397.99984
MOP 8.017648
MRU 40.117279
MUR 46.889905
MVR 15.449622
MWK 1747.434509
MXN 20.571925
MYR 4.482016
MZN 63.899993
NAD 18.103174
NGN 1684.119587
NIO 37.087736
NOK 11.152585
NPR 135.978578
NZD 1.70394
OMR 0.385031
PAB 1
PEN 3.819421
PGK 4.022654
PHP 58.849994
PKR 278.051027
PLN 4.116289
PYG 7864.722013
QAR 3.674102
RON 4.717298
RSD 110.890999
RUB 98.500922
RWF 1383.186748
SAR 3.757416
SBD 8.383555
SCR 13.620275
SDG 601.497717
SEK 10.996295
SGD 1.345889
SHP 0.788387
SLE 22.814988
SLL 20969.502481
SOS 575.878195
SRD 35.279754
STD 20697.981008
SVC 8.756103
SYP 2512.530181
SZL 18.108875
THB 35.04298
TJS 10.662352
TMT 3.51
TND 3.147935
TOP 2.38999
TRY 34.356195
TTD 6.800372
TWD 32.57475
TZS 2680.545109
UAH 41.343768
UGX 3672.512403
UYU 42.486895
UZS 12811.433733
VES 44.996696
VND 25374.272123
VUV 118.722041
WST 2.798776
XAF 621.79325
XAG 0.033135
XAU 0.00039
XCD 2.70255
XDR 0.753908
XOF 621.79325
XPF 113.11667
YER 249.774976
ZAR 18.27157
ZMK 9001.193302
ZMW 27.374927
ZWL 321.999592
  • CMSC

    0.0700

    24.61

    +0.28%

  • RBGPF

    59.2500

    59.25

    +100%

  • RYCEF

    -0.0400

    7.07

    -0.57%

  • SCS

    -0.3000

    13.37

    -2.24%

  • VOD

    0.2800

    8.75

    +3.2%

  • RIO

    -0.5800

    60.62

    -0.96%

  • AZN

    0.1000

    65.29

    +0.15%

  • NGG

    -0.7800

    62.12

    -1.26%

  • GSK

    -0.4100

    35.11

    -1.17%

  • BTI

    0.1800

    35.42

    +0.51%

  • CMSD

    -0.0200

    24.73

    -0.08%

  • BCC

    1.4200

    142.55

    +1%

  • RELX

    -0.4700

    46.12

    -1.02%

  • JRI

    0.0200

    13.24

    +0.15%

  • BCE

    -0.4800

    27.21

    -1.76%

  • BP

    0.4100

    28.57

    +1.44%

North Korea test-fires most powerful missile since 2017
North Korea test-fires most powerful missile since 2017

North Korea test-fires most powerful missile since 2017

North Korea on Sunday tested its most powerful missile since 2017, ramping up the firepower for its record-breaking seventh launch this month as Seoul warned nuclear and long-range tests could be next.

Text size:

Pyongyang has never test-fired this many missiles in a calendar month before and last week threatened to abandon an nearly five-year-long self-imposed moratorium on testing long-range and nuclear weapons.

With peace talks with the US stalled, North Korea has doubled-down on leader Kim Jong Un's vow to modernise the regime's armed forces, flexing Pyongyang's military muscles despite biting international sanctions.

South Korea said Sunday that North Korea appeared to be following a "similar pattern" to 2017 -- when tensions were last at breaking-point on the peninsula -- warning Pyongyang could soon restart nuclear and intercontinental missile tests.

North Korea "has come close to destroying the moratorium declaration", South Korea's President Moon Jae-in said in a statement following an emergency meeting of Seoul's National Security Council.

South Korea's military said Sunday it had "detected an intermediate-range ballistic missile fired at a lofted angle eastward towards the East Sea."

A lofted trajectory involves missiles being fired at a high angle instead of out to their full range.

Sunday's ballistic missile was estimated to have hit a maximum altitude of 2,000 kilometers and flown around 800 kilometers for half an hour, Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff said.

That indicated that Pyongyang may have tested its "first Intermediate-Range Ballistic Missile (IRBM) since 2017", Joseph Dempsey, an analyst with the International Institute for Strategic Studies, wrote on Twitter.

The last time Pyongyang tested a similar missile was in 2017, when the Hwasong-12 flew 787 kilometers at an apogee of just over 2,111 kilometers.

Analysts said at the time that the trajectory indicated that the missile could have flown around 4,500 km if fired on a range-maximizing ballistic trajectory -- putting the US territory of Guam in range.

Japan's top government spokesman Hirokazu Matsuno said Sunday that the ballistic missile "was one with intermediate-range or longer range."

- 'Time is ripe' -

Pyongyang has tested hypersonic missiles twice this month, as well as carrying out four launches of short-range ballistic and cruise missiles.

Last week, leader Kim was photographed by state media inspecting an "important" munitions factory that produces "a major weapon system".

"Kim has been withholding his appetite for testing and provocations," Soo Kim, an analyst at the RAND Corporation, told AFP.

Now however, "the time is ripe, and North Korea's continued missile firing will only throw another wrench into Washington's already high plate of foreign policy challenges," she added.

The frenzy of missiles was also aimed at reminding the world that "the Kim regime hears external discussions of its domestic weaknesses," said Leif Easley, a professor at Ewha University.

"It wants to remind Washington and Seoul that trying to topple it would be too costly," he added.

The string of launches in 2022 comes at a delicate time in the region, with Kim's sole major ally China set to host the Winter Olympics next month and South Korea gearing up for a presidential election in March.

Domestically, North Korea is preparing to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the birth of late leader Kim Jong Il in February, as well as the 110th birthday of founder Kim Il Sung in April.

With reports of soaring food prices and worsening hunger, an economically-reeling Pyongyang recently restarted cross-border trade with neighbouring China.

And ally Beijing, along with Russia, this month blocked the UN Security Council from imposing fresh sanctions in response to the recent tests.

T.Dixon--TFWP