SEOUL—North Korea fired what could have been a ballistic missile on Feb. 27, military officials in South Korea and Japan said, in what would be the first test since the nuclear-armed country conducted a record number of launches in January.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) reported that North Korea had fired a suspected ballistic missile toward the sea off its east coast from a location near Sunan, where Pyongyang’s international airport is located.
The airport has been the site of missile tests, including a pair of short-range ballistic missiles fired on Jan. 16.
Feb. 27’s missile flew around to a maximum altitude of around 620 kilometers (390 miles), to a range of 300 kilometers (190 miles), JCS said.
Analysts said the flight data didn’t closely match earlier tests, and suggested it could be a medium-range ballistic missile fired on a “lofted” trajectory.
“There have been frequent launches since the start of the year, and North Korea is continuing to rapidly develop ballistic missile technology,” Japan’s Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi said in a televised statement. North Korea was threatening the security of Japan, the region, and the international community, he said.
The United States condemned the latest launch and called on North Korea to cease destabilizing acts, but said the test didn’t pose an immediate threat, said the U.S. military’s Indo-Pacific Command.
North Korea’s last test was on Jan. 30, when it fired a Hwasong-12 intermediate-range ballistic missile.
Launch Amid South Korea Election, ‘Putin’s War’
Feb. 27’s launch came less than two weeks ahead of South Korea’s March 9 presidential election, amid fears by some in Seoul and Tokyo that Pyongyang may push ahead with missile development while international attention is focused on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.“This launch comes as the international community is responding to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and if North Korea is making use of that situation, it is something we cannot tolerate,” Kishi said.
South Korea’s National Security Council convened an emergency meeting to discuss the launch, which it called “regrettable,” according to a statement from the presidential Blue House.
“Launching a ballistic missile at a time when the world is making efforts to resolve the Ukraine war is never desirable for peace and stability in the world, the region, and on the Korean Peninsula,” the statement said.
The leading conservative candidate, Yoon Suk-Yeol, warned last week that North Korea could see the Ukraine crisis as “an opportunity for launching its own provocation.”
Washington says it’s open to talks with North Korea without preconditions, but Pyongyang has so far rejected those overtures as insincere.
North Korea’s ballistic missile launches are banned by United Nations Security Council resolutions, which have imposed sanctions on the country over its missile and nuclear weapons program.
