Again, North Korea Conducts Missile-Fire Test

Illustration of a North Korean missile. (North Korea Central News Agency-KCNA)

JAKARTA - North Korea has fired at least one unidentified projectile into the East Sea, the South Korean military's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said, Thursday, March 25, launching the Korea times.

It is not immediately clear what kind of missile deployment this time, including how many and the type of missiles used.

This marks North Korea's second missile launch in a week, after North Korea previously fired its cruise missiles off the west coast at the weekend.

Meanwhile, the Japanese Government reported that the projectile could be a ballistic missile, citing. North Korea last fired ballistic missiles in March last year.

"It may be a ballistic missile. It has not entered Japanese territory and is believed not to fall within Japan's exclusive economic zone," a spokesman for the Japanese Ministry of Defense said.

The Japanese coast guard warned ships against falling objects and instead asked them to provide information to the coast guard.

While cruise missiles are not prohibited under a UN Security Council resolution on North Korea, ballistic missiles are subject to international sanctions. Pyongyang has maintained a self-imposed moratorium on nuclear and long-range missile testing since late 2017.

Today's missile test comes just a day after US President Joe Biden said not much had changed, even though North Korea launched a cruise missile on Sunday. The United States government does not consider it a provocation.

Ballistic missiles have a much longer range than cruise missiles, are the same size and move quickly along their flight path. Ballistic missiles are also considered more threatening, because they are designed to deliver nuclear weapons.

The latest launch comes as the administration of US President Joe Biden completes a review of North Korea policy.

North Korea's First Deputy Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui said last week that any contact and dialogue with the United States can only take place when Washington pulls back its hostile policies towards it.

The United States is scheduled to hold security meetings with South Korea and Japan next week to discuss how to deal with issues involving North Korea.