Pyongyang (Web Desk): North Korea has test-fired a Hwasong-12 intermediate-range ballistic missile.
According to official Korean Central News Agency, it is the most powerful missile launch in five years and it can travel thousands of miles, putting areas like US territory Guam within striking distance.
The state media also released images purportedly taken by a warhead-mounted camera while it was in space, and others showing the missile blasting off from land.
On the other hand, South Korea and Japan have expressed serious concerns over the move.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in called an emergency National Security Council meeting where he described the test as a possible “mid-range ballistic missile launch” that brought North Korea to the brink of breaking its 2018 self-imposed moratorium on the testing of nuclear devices and longer-range missiles.
It is worth mentioning that Sunday’s test was North Korea’s seventh round of launches this month.
As per the international media reports, the unusually fast pace of tests indicates its intent to pressure the Biden administration over long-stalled nuclear negotiations as pandemic-related difficulties put further stress on an economy broken by decades of mismanagement and crippling US-ed sanctions.
