North Korea launched two rockets believed to be cruise missiles on Tuesday, according to reports from South Korea.
The alleged missile launch is the fifth in January, marking an increased escalation in frequency to start 2022.
“An official with the South Korean Ministry of National Defense said the projectiles were detected by South Korean and U.S. intelligence agencies, which are analyzing the launch. Further details were not immediately available,” ABC News reported on Tuesday morning.
“Tuesday’s launches could have been followup tests of a weapon North Korea has described as a long-range cruise missile and first tested in September, said Kim Dong-yub, a professor at Seoul’s University of North Korean Studies,” the Associated Press reported.
North Korea reportedly also fired a missile in a test reported on January 17 to mark its fourth missile launch of the month.
In a January 14 launch, the state-controlled Pyongyang Broadcast Service showed two missiles fired from a train car and into the sea in a firing drill the outlet says was “guided by commanding officials of the Korean People’s Army and leading officials of the Academy of Defense Science.”
“South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said North Korea likely fired two short-range ballistic missiles from an area in Sunan, the site of Pyongyang’s international airport. The missiles were launched four minutes apart and flew about 380 kilometers (236 miles) with a maximum altitude of 42 kilometers (26 miles) before landing in waters off the country’s northeastern coast, it said,” according to the AP.
“The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said the missiles did not pose an immediate threat to U.S. personnel or territory, or to its allies, but highlighted the destabilizing impact of North Korea’s ‘illicit’ weapons program. Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi said the missiles landed outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone, and Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno condemned the actions as threats to peace,” it added.
North Korea also reportedly launched missiles on January 5 and 11.
The January 11 launch led the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to briefly halt all flights at West Coast airports following reports of a North Korean ballistic missile fired into the Sea of Japan.
The order lasted approximately seven minutes, according to reports regarding the San Diego International Airport.
“Sabrina LoPiccolo, spokeswoman for the airport, told Newsweek that the airport was instructed by air traffic of a national ground stop about 2:30 p.m. Pacific time. No reason was given for the stop, which lasted about five to seven minutes, she said,” Newsweek reported.
“We really don’t have any more details,” she said.
#ICYMI FAA issues ground stop, North Korea ballistic missile test suspected reason.
Flights Briefly Grounded at West Coast Airports Over Suspected North Korean Missile Test. https://t.co/3RsIINVZt8— @Mike_Coletta (@Mike_Coletta) January 11, 2022
Last October, the U.N. Security Council reportedly called for an emergency meeting to take place after North Korea said it successfully launched a ballistic missile from a submarine. The Daily Wire previously reported:
“North Korea test-fired a new, smaller ballistic missile from a submarine, state media confirmed on Wednesday, a move that analysts said could be aimed at more quickly fielding an operational missile submarine,” Reuters reported. “The statement from state media came a day after South Korea’s military reported that it believed North Korea had fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) off its east coast, the latest in a string of North Korean missile tests.”
CBS Evening News host Norah O’Donnell reported that the U.N. Security Council had called for an emergency meeting over the incident.
“The U.N. Security Council has just announced that it will hold an emergency meeting after North Korea launched a new ballistic missile,” O’Donnell said. “These are the first pictures of what the North Koreans say is a missile being launched from a submarine, which would be a major advance for the country’s military.”