North Korea tests its biggest Intercontinental Ballistic Missile yet, US announces new sanctions
Asia-Pacific, News March 25, 2022 1 Comment on North Korea tests its biggest Intercontinental Ballistic Missile yet, US announces new sanctionsNorth Korea tests its biggest Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) yet. The latest missile is designed to carry nuclear warheads and hit long-distance targets as far as the U.S. mainland.
North Korea has been on a spree of testing ballistic missiles in recent weeks. According to the media reports from Japan and South Korea, North Korea carried out a test of banned ICBM. The newest variant of North Korea’s Hwasong long-range ballistic missile, Hwasong-17, reached an altitude of 6000 kilometers and flew for more than 1100 kilometers before falling into the Sea of Japan.
The missile landed approximately 150 kilometers away from the western coast of Japan’s Oshima Peninsula at about 15:44 (local time) on March 24, 2022.
North Korea’s supreme leader Kim Jon-Un personally oversaw the ICBM test. According to North Korea’s official news agency KCNA, Kim ordered to carry out the ICBM test in the light of “daily-escalating military tension in and around the Korean peninsula.”
Kim further added that “Any forces should be made to be well aware of the fact that they will have to pay a very dear price before daring to attempt to infringe upon the security of our country.”
According to the experts, the tested missile appeared to be a newer and more powerful version of North Korea’s Hwasong ICBM. Some analysts believe that the missile is capable of carrying multiple warheads as well as decoys to breach missile defense systems.
The South Korean military immediately responded to the missile tests by testing five land, sea, and air ballistic missiles on the same day while the U.S. termed the missile test as a ‘brazen violation’ of the United Nations Security Resolution.
While speaking about the matter, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said, “The door has not closed on diplomacy, but Pyongyang must immediately cease its destabilizing actions.”
The outgoing South Korean President Moon Jae-in also condemned the missile test by calling it a “breach of the suspension of intercontinental ballistic missile launches promised by Chairman Kim Jong-un to the international community”.
South Korea is currently going through a presidential transition as the newly elected conservative president Yoon Suk-yeol is set to take the office next month. It was expected that North Korea would carry out missile tests as an act of intimidation for the newly elected government of South Korea.
In response to North Korea’s ICBM test, the U.S. imposed a set of new sanctions on several entities deemed to be involved in the production process of the North Korea missile development program. The list of these sanctioned entities included Russian companies called, Ardis Group and PFK Profpodshipnik while a Russian national Igor Aleksandrovich Michurin was also listed among those sanctioned by the United States.
The sanctioned individuals and organizations have been accused of “transferring sensitive items to North Korea’s missile program.” The U.S. has also sanctioned a North Korean citizen Ri Sung Chol and a North Korean organization called the Second Academy of Natural Science Foreign Affairs Bureau.
The U.S. State Department issued an official statement that read, “These measures are part of our ongoing efforts to impede the DPRK’s ability to advance its missile program and they highlight the negative role Russia plays on the world stage as a proliferation to programs of concern.”
Russian ambassador in the United States Anatoly Antonov responded to the sanctions against Russian organizations and individuals by stating, “serial sanctions will not achieve their goals.” Antonov further added, “It is obvious that the next ‘package’ of anti-Russian sanctions is aimed at destroying the economy and undermining the domestic political situation in our country.”
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[…] Korea’s test launch comes only six days after North Korea tested its biggest Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) […]