North Korea expert: Pyongyang covers up economic failures with missile launches

"As you can see, it is about the implementation of the five-year plan for strengthening the country's defense capabilities, discussed at the 8th Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea, and under the complicated situation caused by COVID-19 and sanctions, it was decided to make the most of the success of the first year of implementing this plan in the defense sector, covering up the lack of economic success with military achievements," Kim said. According to him, it is important for the North Korean leadership to demonstrate these achievements to the domestic people.

Experts say North Korea is covering up its economic failures with missile launches. Photo: AP

Earlier, on October 19, South Korea announced that North Korea hadballistic missile launchheading towards the Sea of ​​Japan, possibly launched from a submarine. Public opinion has made many different calculations about the missile's flight range, from 450 km to 590 km, with a maximum orbital altitude of 60 km. Meanwhile, Japan announced that North Korea launched 2 ballistic missiles.

On the same day, Yonhap quoted the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) as confirming that North Korea had confirmed the launch of a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) into the Sea of ​​Japan. "The new SLBM will greatly contribute to the development of our country's defense technology and the combat capability of the navy's submarine fleet."

North Korea watchers believe the new mini SLBM launched from a 2,000-ton submarine on October 19 is capable of striking targets in the southern part of the Korean Peninsula or Japan. Last week, North Korea unveiled a mini SLBM at a defense exhibition in Pyongyang.

In recent years, Pyongyang has reported developing various SLBMs, including the Pukgukson-4 and Pukgukson-5 missiles displayed in parades in October 2020 and January 2021.

Japan said it plans to strengthen its defenses and strongly condemned North Korea's ballistic missile launches. The US military said there was no threat to the US or its allies from the launches.

On October 13, Pyongyang's representative at the UN General Assembly's First Committee meeting said that the country would not misuse its nuclear arsenal if there were no plots by unfriendly countries to use nuclear weapons against their country. He added that North Korea is complying with its obligations under the nuclear non-proliferation regime./.