SEOUL, South Korea -- North Korea fired a ballistic missile into its eastern sea on Tuesday, its second weapons launch in a week, the militaryes of South Korea and Japan said.
This month's launches were followed by a series of weapons tests in 2021 that showed how North Korea continues to expand its military capabilities amid a self-imposed Pandemic lockdown and deadlocked nuclear talks with the United States.
South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said the North fired at least one weapon early Tuesday, but didn't immediately say whether it was ballistic or how far it flew. Japan s Office and Defense Ministry said the North Korean weapon was possibly a ballistic missile, but didn't immediately provide more details.
The Offices of Guam Homeland Security and Civil Defense said it was monitoring the reports of the North's launch but that there was no immediate threat for Guam, a major U.S. military hub in the Pacific.
The North launched the latest launch six days after it fired a ballistic missile into the sea in what it described as a successful test of a hypersonic missile, a type of weapon the North claimed to have first tested in September.
The test came days after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un pledged to bolster his military forces despite pandemic-related difficulties during a key political conference.
The U.S.-led diplomacy on North Korea's nuclear program has been stalled since 2019 due to disputes over international sanctions on the North. The Biden administration has repeatedly called for resuming nuclear diplomacy anywhere and at any time without preconditions, but North Korea has argued that the U.S. must withdraw its hostility against it before any talks can start.
Kim's rule is at the heart of the North s advancing nuclear arsenal and he clearly considers his strongest guarantee of survival. During his 10 year reign, he conducted a large number of weapons tests in a bid to acquire the ability to launch nuclear strikes on the American mainland.
His country's economy has faltered severely in the past two years due to the COVID 19 pandemic, the U.S. sanctions over his nuclear ambitions and his government's mismanagement.