North Korea tests more missiles in January than all of 2021, including most powerful one in years

North Korea has completed more missile tests in the first month of 2022 than it did in the entirety of 2021, alarming South Korean officials who worry about its northern neighbor’s intentions. 

The hermit kingdom completed its seventh weapons test this month with the launch of the Hwasong-17, which Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi described as the longest-range missile it launched since the test of the Hwasong-15 in November 2017. 

The missile traveled just short of 500 miles at an altitude of over 1,200 miles before landing in the sea. 

With seven tests completed in the past month, North Korea outpaced its testing program for the entirety of the previous year. South Korean President Moon Jae-in called an emergency National Security Council meeting to discuss the tests. 

CHINA WILL IMPEDE VITAL US STRATEGY TO STOP UKRAINE-RUSSIA CONFLICT: FORMER DEFENSE OFFICIAL

Moon described the latest test as a possible “mid-range ballistic missile launch,” similar to the kind that pushed North Korea to nearly break its self-imposed moratorium on the testing of nuclear devices and longer-range missiles. 

North Korea recently convened the sixth meeting of the current Political Bureau of the Central Committee, during which General Secretary Kim Jong Un discussed the possibility of backtracking on the moratorium in response to U.S. sanctions. 

NORTH KOREA FIRES MISSILE INTO SEA OFF EAST COAST

KCNA Watch translated state media reports that the Politburo discussed how the U.S. “viciously slurred” North Korea and “committed the foolish act of taking over 20 independent sanctions measures.”

North Korean officials claimed that the U.S. “reached a danger line that cannot be overlooked anymore” and that the nation must consider “practical action” to defend its…