North Korea Launches Ballistic Missile at Different Time and Location [Yang Nak-gyu's Defence Club]

The Ballistic Missile Launch Site This Time is Hwanghae Namdo
Launch Time Moved Earlier but Failure Possible

North Korea has once again launched ballistic missiles. This time, just five days after the launch on the 26th of last month, they changed the time and location of the provocation. Military authorities are closely monitoring North Korea, which has recently shown a pattern of complex provocations, including releasing balloons carrying waste toward South Korea.

On the 1st, the Joint Chiefs of Staff announced that North Korea fired an unidentified ballistic missile eastward. Citizens at Seoul Station's main waiting room are watching news related to North Korea's missile launch. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

The Joint Chiefs of Staff announced on the 1st, "Two ballistic missiles were detected flying northeast from the Jangyeon area in South Hwanghae Province at around 5:05 a.m. and 5:15 a.m., respectively." "The short-range ballistic missile launched at around 5:05 a.m. flew approximately 600 km, and the missile launched at around 5:15 a.m. flew about 120 km," they stated.

Last month, North Korea launched ballistic missiles around Pyongyang at 5:30 a.m. The following day, North Korean state media claimed it was a ‘successful’ test to secure multiple warhead capability. However, since the launch occurred after sunrise, the missile trajectory was visible to the naked eye and was observed to fly unstably from the initial ascent phase before exploding mid-air. The military assessed North Korea’s claims as exaggerated and deceptive. On that day, North Korea launched ballistic missiles from the Jangmyon area in South Hwanghae Province, advancing the launch time.

This location is where North Korea first launched ballistic missiles in March last year. It is possible they tested surprise launch capabilities by selecting an area where South Korea and the U.S. surveillance might be lax. This can be interpreted as one of the attempts to diversify launch methods. At that time, North Korea launched an improved version of the Hwasong-11 (KN-23), known as the ‘North Korean version of Iskander.’ It belongs to the short-range ballistic missile (SRBM) category. These missiles flew about 620 km, passing over the entire North Korean territory before landing in the East Sea international waters outside Japan’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

The missiles launched on this day have a similar range. North Korea is known to have supplied the Hwasong-11 short-range ballistic missiles to Russia, which invaded Ukraine. Therefore, this test launch may have been intended to test the performance of missiles for export to Russia. However, since the missile launched around 5:15 a.m. had a shorter range, it is highly likely that this test launch also failed.

North Korea’s ballistic missile launches may also be a response to the first trilateral multi-domain joint exercise ‘Freedom Edge’ conducted by South Korea, the U.S., and Japan. Regarding Freedom Edge, which was held over three days starting on the 27th of last month, North Korea strongly condemned the exercise, stating that it demonstrated the establishment of an ‘Asian version of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization),’ according to a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ External Policy Department reported by the Korean Central News Agency yesterday.