North Korea
\nNorth Korea fired what appeared to be a ballistic missile into the sea on Wednesday, South Korea and Japan said, in the first such launch by Pyongyang this year.
\nIn the decade since Kim Jong Un took power, North Korea has seen rapid progress in its military technology at the cost of international sanctions.
\nThe nuclear-armed nation\u2019s first apparent weapons launch of 2022 followed a year of major arms tests despite the severe economic hardship during the coronavirus pandemic.
\nThe South Korean military said the North fired what is \u201cpresumed to be a ballistic missile\u201d towards the sea east of the peninsula at around 8:10 am (2310 GMT Tuesday).
\nAfter an emergency meeting, South Korea\u2019s national security council \u201cexpressed concerns over the launch\u201d, according to a statement by the president\u2019s office.
\nJapanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida described it as a \u201cpossible ballistic missile launch\u201d.
\n\u201cIt is truly regrettable that North Korea has continuously launched missiles since last year,\u201d he told reporters.
\nKishida said the Japanese government was analysing details, including how many missiles may have been launched.
\n\u201cThere have been no reports of damage to Japanese aircraft and vessels so far,\u201d Japan\u2019s top government spokesman Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters.
\n\u201cWe are continuing analysis, but if it took a normal orbit, it is expected to have travelled about 500 kilometres and fallen outside Japan\u2019s exclusive economic zone.\u201d
\nThe launch followed a speech by Kim last week in which he said North Korea would continue to build up its military capabilities.
\n\u201cI expect North Korea to continue refining its arsenal as a way to improve its strategic position at a time of political change in the region,\u201d Jean Lee, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Woodrow Wilson International Center, told AFP.
\nIn 2021, North Korea said it successfully tested a new type of submarine-launched ballistic missile, a long-range cruise missile, a train-launched weapon, and what it described as a hypersonic warhead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
North Korea North Korea fired what appeared to be a ballistic missile into the sea on Wednesday, South Korea and Japan said, in the first such launch by Pyongyang this year. In the decade since Kim Jong Un took power, North Korea has seen rapid progress in its military technology at the cost of international […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-237088","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n