North Korea conducts missile test as world is focused on Ukraine

SEOUL • North Korea followed up last month's record barrage of missile tests with the firing of a suspected mid-range ballistic rocket yesterday, ramping up tensions as global attention is focused on Ukraine.

The projectile reached an apogee of about 600km and flew at a range of about 300km before splashing down in waters outside of Japan's exclusive economic zone, Japanese Defence Minister Nobuo Kishi told reporters in Tokyo.

South Korea's military said its northern neighbour fired what appeared to be a single ballistic missile at 7.52am local time from an area near Pyongyang's main airport towards waters off its east coast.

The missile's flight path was unusual and could indicate a test of a medium-to-intermediate range ballistic missile flown on a lofted trajectory, according to weapons experts.

North Korea often times its provocations for political purposes. The latest launch comes less than two weeks before South Korea holds a presidential election on March 9 and as the Biden administration is tied up with one of its greatest international challenges - the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The launch suggests North Korea may be headed into a cycle of constant weapons tests for the foreseeable future, said Ms Rachel Minyoung Lee, a non-resident fellow with the 38 North Programme at the Stimson Centre, who worked as an analyst for the CIA's Open Source Enterprise for almost two decades.

"A confluence of these events - the Ukrainian situation, South Korea's leadership transition period between now and the new president's inauguration in May, and the shifting global dynamics involving the US, Russia and China - make it extremely difficult to come up with and impose a coordinated response to North Korea, even if it were to resume intercontinental ballistic missile test-launches or nuclear tests," Ms Lee said.

"This lays the perfect ground for Pyongyang to test its new weapons and continue to make advancements in its nuclear and missile technology," she added.

South Korea's National Security Council met a few hours after the launch and expressed "stern regret" over the test.

"North Korea's ballistic missile launch at a time when the world is working hard to resolve the war in Ukraine is not desirable for the peace and security of the world, region and Korean Peninsula," it said in a statement issued by the presidential office.

The US Indo-Pacific Command said it was aware of the missile test. "The United States condemns this launch and calls on the DPRK to refrain from further destabilising acts," it said in a statement, using the abbreviation for North Korea's formal name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

In a post on its Foreign Ministry's website, North Korea had blamed the US' "high-handedness" for the conflict in Ukraine, and accused Washington of ignoring the security concerns of Russia, its longstanding ally, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported on Saturday.

Mr Kim Jong Un's regime last fired a ballistic missile on Jan 30, the culmination of its biggest monthly series of rocket tests since he took power a decade ago.

The spate of tests included its first launch of an intermediate-range rocket since 2017.

Pyongyang then held off on missile tests while its neighbour and biggest benefactor, China, hosted the Winter Olympic Games in Beijing.

That January launch effectively ended a halt to long-range missile tests put in place before Mr Kim's first summit in 2018 with then US President Donald Trump, signalling the North Korean leader is preparing to test-fire for the first time in more than four years an intercontinental ballistic missile that could reach across the US, from Los Angeles to the White House.

Mr Liu Xiaoming, the Chinese government's special representative for Korean Peninsula affairs, spoke with his US counterpart Sung Kim last week, China's Foreign Ministry said in a statement yesterday.

Mr Liu reiterated that the US should pay attention to North Korea's concerns and create the conditions for restarting dialogue.

China and Russia, which have veto power at the United Nations Security Council, have called for winding back some of the sanctions already imposed on Pyongyang and may not have much appetite to tighten economic penalties now in response to North Korea's latest launch, which violates UN resolutions banning it from ballistic missile tests.

North Korean leader Kim has shown no interest in the Biden administration's call for him to return to nuclear disarmament talks, which have stalled for about three years. So far, the US has not budged on North Korea's demands that it ease up on sanctions choking its economy.

In recent months, Mr Kim's regime has tested missiles designed to hit South Korea and Japan, which host the bulk of US troops in the region. These include hypersonic systems designed to use high speeds and manoeuvrability to evade US-operated interceptors.

The intermediate-range missile fired last month could hit Guam, where American troops are stationed.

BLOOMBERG