One of the two ballistic missiles launched this morning by North Korea may have suffered a failure, exploding when it was still over North Korean territory and scattering debris on the ground. This is the hypothesis formulated by the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the South Korean Armed Forces, which just this morning reported the launch of two ballistic missiles by Pyongyang, and which in the last few hours has examined the data collected by radar and satellites. According to Seoul, a theater ballistic missile was launched from a site along the western coast of North Korea in a northeasterly direction at 5:05 this morning (10:05 pm in Italy), and would have made a flight of about 600 kilometres. A second missile, of an unspecified type, was launched about 10 minutes later, but its flight was interrupted after only 120 kilometers, and the missile may have exploded in the air not far from the capital Pyongyang.
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North Korea’s last missile launch was last Wednesday: the following day, Pyongyang said it had successfully tested a ballistic missile designed to deliver multiple conventional or nuclear warheads. During the test, the North Korean Missile Administration “successfully conducted tests to control the separation and guidance of individual mobile warheads,” the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said. According to the agency, the testing represents an important step towards Pyongyang’s full adoption of Mirv (multiple independent warhead) technology. Seoul had hypothesized that Pyongyang had instead unsuccessfully tested a hypersonic warhead.
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Only yesterday, North Korea, in a statement from its Foreign Ministry, condemned the “repeated, reckless and provocative military actions” against Pyongyang by the United States, Japan and South Korea, warning of “fatal consequences”. The ministry made this statement after the joint exercise Freedom Edge, held by the three countries from 27 to 29 June, warning that North Korea intends to “discourage acts that disturb peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in the rest of the world” and “will firmly defend the sovereignty, security and interests of the State and peace in the region with offensive and overwhelming countermeasures”. For Pyongyang, the trilateral exercises are part of the strategic plan for world domination by the United States, which is putting pressure on Russia and China, while the two allies are “vassals”: Japan “is the largest overseas military base of the United States” and South Korea is “a military colony”.
