{"id":25601,"date":"2022-01-30T15:16:30","date_gmt":"2022-01-30T15:16:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2022\/01\/30\/north-korea-tests-longest-range-missile-since-2017\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T05:45:47","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T05:45:47","slug":"north-korea-tests-longest-range-missile-since-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/flashpoints\/2022\/01\/30\/north-korea-tests-longest-range-missile-since-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"North Korea tests longest-range missile since 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SEOUL, South Korea \u2014 North Korea on Sunday fired what appeared to be the most powerful missile it has tested since President Joe Biden <\/a>took office, as it revives its old playbook in brinkmanship to wrest concessions from Washington and neighbors amid a prolonged stalemate in diplomacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Japanese and South Korean militaries said the missile was launched on a lofted trajectory, apparently to avoid the territorial spaces of neighbors, and reached a maximum altitude of 2,000 kilometers (1,242 miles) and traveled 800 kilometers (497 miles) before landing in the sea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The flight details suggest the North tested its longest-range ballistic missile since 2017<\/a>, when it twice flew intermediate-range ballistic missiles over Japan and, separately, three intercontinental ballistic missiles that demonstrated the potential to reach deep into the American homeland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sunday\u2019s test was North Korea\u2019s seventh round of launches this month<\/a>. The unusually fast pace of tests<\/a> indicates its intent to pressure the Biden administration over long-stalled nuclear negotiations as pandemic-related difficulties put further stress on an economy broken by decades of mismanagement and crippling U.S.-led sanctions over its nuclear weapons program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Korean President Moon Jae-in called an emergency National Security Council meeting where he described the test as a possible \u201cmid-range ballistic missile launch\u201d that brought North Korea to the brink of breaking its 2018 self-imposed moratorium on the testing of nuclear devices and longer-range missiles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi, left, speaks to media following a report on North Korea’s missile launch, at Defense Ministry in Tokyo Sunday, Jan. 30, 2022. (Kyodo News via AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi also told reporters that the missile was the longest-range the North has tested since its Hwasong-15 ICBM in November 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un chaired a ruling party meeting on Jan. 20, where senior party members made a veiled threat to lift the moratorium, citing what they perceived as U.S. hostility and threats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The latest launch suggests Kim\u2019s moratorium<\/a> is already broken, said Lee Choon Geun, a missile expert and honorary research fellow at South Korea\u2019s Science and Technology Policy Institute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his strongest comments toward the North in years, Moon said the situation around the Korean Peninsula is beginning to resemble 2017, when North Korea\u2019s provocative run in nuclear and long-range missile testing resulted in an exchange of war threats between Kim and Trump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moon said the North\u2019s latest moves violated U.N. Security Council resolutions<\/a> and were a \u201cchallenge toward the international community\u2019s efforts to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula, stabilize peace and find a diplomatic solution\u201d to the nuclear standoff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The North \u201cshould stop its actions that create tensions and pressure and respond to the dialogue offers by the international community including South Korea and the United States,\u201d Moon said, according to his office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moon had ambitiously pushed for inter-Korean engagement and held three summits with Kim in 2018 while also lobbying to set up Kim\u2019s first summit with Trump in 2018, where they issued vague aspirations for a nuclear-free peninsula.<\/p>\n\n\n\t