Iran Press/ Asia: The test comes less than a week before the opening of the Winter Olympics in Beijing, which is North Korea’s main political and economic partner. Pyongyang has said it would be skipping the Games because of the COVID-19 pandemic and “hostile forces.”
In an address ahead of the New Year, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for bolstering the military with cutting-edge technology at a time when talks with South Korea and the United States have stalled.
According to South Korean media, North Korea on Sunday fired what appeared to be the most powerful missile it has tested since U.S. President Joe Biden took office.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff reported that a projectile believed to be a single ballistic missile was launched about 7:52 a.m. (2252 GMT) from North Korea’s Jagang Province toward the ocean off its east coast.
Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told a televised briefing that if the projectile was a standard ballistic missile, it is estimated to have reached an altitude of 2,000km and flown for 30 minutes to a distance of 800km. 219
