17 January 2022•Update: 17 January 2022
ANKARA
North Korea test fired two suspected short-range ballistic missiles, South Korea's military said Monday, in the fourth missile test this year, local media reported.
The two ballistic missiles were fired eastward from the Sunan airport area in Pyongyang, Yonhap News Agency reported, citing South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).
"Currently, our military is tracking and monitoring related (North Korean) movements and maintaining a readiness posture," the agency quoted the JCS as saying.
The latest suspected missile test came just three days after North Korea said it tested two tactical guided missiles from railcars.
Last Wednesday, the country said it had “successfully” conducted the final test firing of a newly developed hypersonic missile.
In October last year, North Korea confirmed that it had developed a hypersonic missile.
Hypersonic missiles usually fly five times the speed of sound, or 6,125 kilometers (3,806 miles) per hour, giving little time for enemies to respond.
The latest tests have led to the US imposing sanctions on five people involved in North Korea’s missile programs.
A spokesperson for North Korea’s Foreign Ministry said last week that the US sanctions are “clearly a provocation” and criticized Washington for “aggravating the situation intentionally.”
The US’s “gangster logic…questions the exercise of our legitimate right to self-defense,” said a statement carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency.
The official said North Korea’s push for a “new-type weapon” is only to enhance its “national defense capability, not for aiming at a specific country or force.”
The statement warned of “a stronger and clearer response” if the US continues with its “attitude of confrontation.”
*Writing by Islamuddin Sajid
