This undated photo, released by North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency by KNS on January 7, 2025, shows a missile launch at an undisclosed location in North Korea. STR / AFP A week after Pyongyang claimed to have tested a new “hypersonic missile” and a few days before the inauguration of Donald Trump, North Korea launched several short-range ballistic missiles towards Korea on Tuesday January 14 of the South, announced the country’s army. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff “detected several short-range ballistic missiles fired toward the East Sea,” referring to the body of water also known as the Sea of Japan. The South Korean military said the launch took place around 9:30 a.m. (1:30 a.m. Paris time) and that the missiles traveled 250 kilometers before crashing into the sea. South Korea and the United States detected and monitored North Korea’s missile launch preparations in advance, and immediately detected and tracked them at the time of launch,” she added. Acting South Korean President Choi Sang-mok condemned the launches, saying they violated United Nations Security Council resolutions: “Seoul will respond more firmly to North Korea’s provocations on the basis of its strong security position and its alliance with the United States. » Read also | Article reserved for our subscribers In South Korea, Antony Blinken defends the solidity of a bilateral alliance threatened by political uncertainties Read later Pressure before a second Trump term This launch “could indicate an intention to put pressure before the second term of the “Trump administration,” said Yang Moo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul. During his first term (2017-2021), Donald Trump made very personal attempts at rapprochement with Kim Jong-un, whom he met three times. Although he had failed to get North Korea to renounce its nuclear weapons program, for which the country is heavily sanctioned by the UN, this rapprochement had still reduced tensions between the two Koreas. . Since then, in 2022, North Korea declared its status as a nuclear power “irreversible”, and even engraved it in 2023 in its Constitution. Its army has carried out numerous tests of weapons banned by the UN, including that in October 2024 of a solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). Tuesday’s launch comes a week after Pyongyang fired what North Korean leader Kim Jong-un described as “an intermediate-range hypersonic ballistic missile” intended to deter “all rivals” of the country in the region. of the Pacific. It took place while the US Secretary of State was visiting South Korea. Read also | Article reserved for our subscribers In South Korea, the president is taking advantage of the imbroglio between the multiple investigations targeting him Read later Rification between Pyongyang and Moscow Since the start of the war in Ukraine, Pyongyang and Moscow have also become closer and have notably signed in 2024 a pact which provides for “mutual assistance in the event of aggression” by a third country. Le Monde Mémorable Test your general knowledge with the editorial staff of “Le Monde” Test your general knowledge with the editorial staff of “Le Monde” Discover Seoul, kyiv and Washington also claim that since October 2024, North Korea has deployed more than 10,000 soldiers in Russia to help Moscow in its war against Ukraine. Neither Moscow nor Pyongyang have confirmed. South Korean intelligence estimated Monday that more than 300 North Korean troops were killed and 2,700 injured. During his visit to Seoul, Blinken said Moscow and Pyongyang were working increasingly closely on advanced space technologies. Antony Blinken also expressed concerns that Russia, a veto-wielding member of the UN Security Council, would formally accept North Korea as a nuclear state. This would be a blow to the global consensus that Pyongyang must end its program. Le Monde with AFP Reuse this content
Author : News7
Publish date : 2025-01-14 07:54:24
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