THEO VAN GOGH BACKGROUNDER: North Korea Test-Fires Missile Over Japan for First Time Since 2017 / ANALYSIS & SOURCES
4-10-22 -The missile launch early this morning triggered alerts across Japan (NYT) telling people to seek shelter. The last time a North Korean missile flew over Japan was during a period of high tensions between Washington and Pyongyang in 2017. Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio called the launch an “outrage,” and a White House spokesperson said Washington, Seoul, and Tokyo will coordinate a response (NPR).

The missile flew around 2,800 miles, a record for a North Korean test, Japanese and South Korean officials said. The range suggests the missile could have reached the U.S. island territory of Guam. Japan’s defense ministry said North Korea has already launched thirty-six missiles this year, surpassing its previous record (Nikkei) from 2019.

 

Analysis

 

“Pyongyang is still in the middle of a provocation and testing cycle and is likely waiting until after China’s mid-October Communist Party congress to conduct an even more significant test,” Ewha Womans University’s Leif-Eric Easley tells Nikkei.

 

“The testing spree is an apparent response to two sets of military drills—one between Washington and Seoul and the other involving Washington, Seoul and Tokyo—off the Korean Peninsula’s east coast last week,” the Associated Press’s Hyung-jin Kim, Kim Tong-hyung, and Mari Yamaguchi write.

 

This Backgrounder looks at North Korea’s military capabilities.