North Korea launched a new ballistic missile, on the fourth of January 2022, in a slightly inclined direction, officially in order not to run the risk of damaging some neighboring state in case of unsuccessful launch, carried out from a base near the borders with the China, in the province of Jagang. The launch took place on January 30, but, as usual, North Korea broke the news 24 hours late.
Reaching the non-negligible height of 2,000 kilometers above the ground, the missile, a Hwasong-12, was dropped into the sea 800 kilometers from its starting point, but first it sent a couple of beautiful images of the Earth from that height just right. to dispel doubts: a nice round with Korea in the center. According to the state agency, leader Kim Jong Un was not present at the launch and this may mean that it was a test of operation, rather than an operation to exhibit a new technology.
The missile in question is of the ground-to-ground type and the height it has reached, perfect vertical, supports the idea of many observers about the range of this weapon: 4500 kilometers, as if to say from Japan to Malaysia, from the Philippines to American island of Guam.
The test, which seems perfectly successful, is the fourth since the beginning of January, including that of an alleged hypersonic missile, a particularly current and feared weapon, and could be the definitive signal that North Korea no longer intends to respect the moratorium imposed by the UN on ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons, which can be mounted on this series, which also sees the even more worrying Hwasong 14, range 10,400 kilometers, and the Hwasong 15, range 13,000 kilometers.
In short, it seems that the five-year plan announced by the leader of the Asian country at the Eighth Party Congress in January is in perfect progress: development of military terrestrial and space surveillance satellites, hypersonic missiles, intelligent drones.