SEOUL, South Korea -- North Korea fired tactical guided missiles on Monday, state media KCNA said on Tuesday, the latest in a series of recent tests that highlighted its evolving missile programs amid stalled denuclearization talks.
The North s fourth missile test in 2022 was the North s fourth in 2022, with two previous launches involving hypersonic missiles capable of high speed and maneuvering after liftoff, and a second test on Friday using a pair of short-range ballistic missiles SRBMs fired from train cars.
South Korea s military said on Monday that North Korea launched another two SRBMs from an airport in its capital, Pyongyang, that flew about 380 km 236 miles to a maximum altitude of 42 km 26 miles. The Academy of Defense Science conducted a test of tactical guided missiles from the country's west, and they precisely hit an island target off the east coast, the official KCNA news agency said on Tuesday.
The test-fire was intended to evaluate tactical guided missiles being produced and deployed, and to verify the accuracy of the weapon system, KCNA said.
It confirmed the accuracy, security and efficiency of the weapon system under production. The unusually rapid sequence of launches has resulted in U.S. condemnation and the push for new U.N. sanctions, while Pyongyang warns of stronger actions, raising the specter of a return to the period of fire and fury threats in 2017.
U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Sung Kim urged Pyongyang to stop its unlawful activities and reopen dialogue, saying he was open to meeting without preconditions, the State Department said after a call with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts.
South Korea s defense ministry said on Tuesday that it takes all North Korean missile launches as a direct and serious threat, but that its military is capable of detecting and intercepting them.
Stephane Dujarric, UN spokesman, called the North's tests increasingly concerning, calling for all parties to return to talks to defuse tension and promote a very verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. North Korea used the Sunan airport to test-fire the Hwasong 12 intermediate-range ballistic missile IRBM in 2017 with leader Kim Jong Un in attendance.
North Korea has not tested its long-range missiles or nuclear weapons since 2017, as a flurry of diplomacy with Washington unfolding in 2018. After the denuclearization talks stalled and slipped back into a standoff following a failed summit in 2019, it began testing a range of new SRBM designs.
Kim did not attend the latest test.
A photo released by KCNA showed a missile rising into the sky above a cloud of dust, belching flame.
Kim Dong-yup, a former South Korea Navy officer who teaches at Seoul's Kyungnam University, said North Korea appears to have fired KN-24 SRBMs that were last tested in March 2020 and flew 410 km 255 miles to a maximum altitude of 50 km 31 miles. The KN 24 resembles the U.S. MGM 140 Army Tactical Missile Defense System ATACMS and is designed to evade missile defenses and carry out precision strikes.
The North seems to have begun mass production of the KN -- 24, said Kim, referring to the KCNA report.
The test could be a show of force to underline their warning of action.