By Daniel DePetris
With the Biden administration continuing to manage the fallout from last month’s U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, the last thing the White House needed was an unannounced missile test in Northeast Asia.
On Sept. 11 and 12, Pyongyang conducted its first missile launches in approximately six months, sending what the reclusive country described as a long-range cruise missile to a target some 930 miles away.
Days later, Pyongyang launched two ballistic missiles 500 miles off its east coast, the inauguration of a new rail-based missile delivery system. The cruise missile test occurred just weeks after the International Atomic Energy Agency released “deeply troubling” findings that North Korea had ramped up activity at its primary Yongbyon nuclear site to the highest levels in three years.
This piece was originally published in NK News on September 17, 2021. Read more HERE.