North Korea fired two suspected ballistic missiles Monday, Seoul said, its fourth weapons test this month as Pyongyang flexes its military muscle while ignoring offers of talks from the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite biting\u00a0international\u00a0sanctions, Pyongyang has conducted a string of weapons tests this year, including hypersonic missiles, as leader Kim Jong Un pursues his avowed goal of further strengthening the military.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Reeling economically from a self-imposed coronavirus blockade, impoverished North Korea has not responded to Washington\u2019s offers of talks, doubled down on weapons tests and vowed a \u201cstronger and certain\u201d response to any attempts to rein it in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The launches come at a delicate time in the region, with North Korea\u2019s sole major ally China set to host the Winter Olympics next month and South Korea gearing up for a presidential election in March.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two suspected \u201cshort-range ballistic missiles\u201d were fired east from an airport in Pyongyang early Monday, the South Korean military\u2019s Joint Chiefs of Staff said, with Japan also confirming the launch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fired just before 9 am (0000 GMT), they flew 380 kilometers (around 240 miles) at an altitude of 42 km, the JCS added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The frequent and varied tests this year indicate North Korea \u201cis trying to improve its technology and operational capability in terms of covert actions\u201d, Japanese Defence Minister Nobuo Kishi told reporters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pyongyang said it successfully tested hypersonic gliding missiles on January 5 and January 11, with the second launch personally supervised by Kim.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
North Korea fired two suspected ballistic missiles Monday, Seoul said, its fourth weapons test this<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":13220,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n