N.Korea fires 'projectile' in sixth launch this month, S.Korea says (updated)
26/01/2022 23:22
(Adds comments by US official, Kyodo report, details)
By Josh Smith
SEOUL, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Nuclear-armed North Korea fired at
least one "unknown projectile" into the sea off its east coast,
South Korea's military said on Thursday, in what would be the
sixth round of missile tests https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/north-korea-appears-have-fired-cruise-missiles-report-2022-01-25
this month.
South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said it had detected the
launch, but did not elaborate. The suspected missile appeared to
have landed outside of Japan's exclusive economic zone, Kyodo
news agency reported, citing a Japanese government source.
North Korea said this month it will bolster its defences
against the United States and consider resuming "all
temporally-suspended activities", an apparent reference to a
self-imposed moratorium on tests of nuclear weapons and
long-range missiles. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2TZ2LJ
On Tuesday, North Korea fired two cruise missiles into the
sea off its east coast, South Korea's military said, amid rising
tension over a recent series of weapons tests.
Earlier in the month North Korea tested tactical guided
missiles, two "hypersonic missiles" capable of high speed and
maneuvering after lift-off, and a railway-borne missile system.
The series of missile tests has drawn condemnation from
governments in the United States and Japan and sparked meetings
of the United Nations Security Council, which has sanctioned
North Korea for violating resolutions that ban ballistic missile
tests.
U.S. President Joe Biden's administration sanctioned several
North Korean and Russian individuals and entities this month on
accusations they were helping North Korea's weapons programmes,
but China and Russia delayed a U.S. bid to impose U.N. sanctions
on five North Koreans. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2U026R
On Wednesday, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for
Japan and Korea Mark Lambert said that Washington has "no
reservations" about talking with North Korea and is willing to
meet anywhere and talk about anything.
"We have to have a serious discussion about the
denuclearisation of North Korea, and if North Korea is willing
to do that, all sorts of promising things can happen," he said
during a webinar hosted by the Washington-based Center for
Strategic and International Studies.
North Korea has defended its missile tests as its sovereign
right for self defence, and said the U.S. sanctions proved that
even as Washington proposes talks, it maintains a "hostile"
policy toward Pyongyang.
North Korea has not launched long-range intercontinental
ballistic missiles (ICBMs) or tested nuclear weapons since 2017,
but began testing a slew of shorter-range missiles after
denuclearisation talks stalled following a failed summit with
the United States in 2019.
(Reporting by Josh Smith; editing by Chris Reese and Richard
Pullin)
((JoshSmith1@thomsonreuters.com;))