The plumes of exhaust as North Korea’s ballistic missile ascended skywards on Wednesday signified the 14th test this year. It is obvious that Pyongyang is ratcheting up the diplomatic pressure on its neighbours and the United States of America. North Korea has fired a ballistic missile towards its east coast, according to South Korea’s military, about a week after the North said it would develop its nuclear capabilities “at the fastest possible speed”. Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected the launch from the Sunan area of Pyongyang. Japan’s Coast Guard also reported the launch and said it could be a ballistic missile. 

The JCS said the missile flew 470 kilometres at a top altitude of 780 km and speed of Mach 11. The launch comes less than a week before South Korea’s newly elected President Yoon Suk-yeol, a conservative, is due to be sworn into office. Pyongyang last month tested its first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) since 2017. The launch has caused a flutter in the diplomatic roost. Seoul’s JCS urged Pyongyang to immediately stop the missile tests, which it criticised as a “clear” breach of the UN Security Council resolutions and a “grave threat” that undermines peace on the Korean Peninsula and beyond. “Our military is tracking and monitoring related movements to prepare against the possibility of an additional launch, and it is maintaining a full readiness posture,” the JCS said in a text message sent to the media. NK News, a media outlet focused on North Korea, said it had obtained photographs showing a plume of white smoke against a blue sky. Last week, President Kim Jong Un of North Korea promised to speed up the development of his country’s nuclear arsenal as he watched a huge military parade to mark the anniversary of the founding of the army. Denuclearisation talks with the United States remain stalled amid concerns that Pyongyang may soon test a nuclear weapon. The South Korean President is expected to take a more hawkish approach to the North than his predecessor Moon Jae-in. 

Response to the missile launch has been as prompt as it has been decisive. The South Koreans held a video conference about the launch with General Paul LaCamera, an American general who heads the South Korea-US combined forces command in Seoul. They agreed to maintain a solid joint defence posture. The North Korean launch was also detected by Japan whose government has advanced a robust condemnation. The subtext must be that North Korea continues to defy international condemnation. And there is little that its neighbours seem to be able to do about it.