SINGAPORE — With the war in Ukraine and Russia’s threats to deploy tactical nuclear weapons, it was easy to lose sight of the rising danger North Korea poses to peace in Asia.
But the reclusive state recaptured the world’s attention Tuesday when it launched an intermediate-range ballistic missile over Japan for the first time since 2017, prompting Japanese orders to take shelter across two northern prefectures. The U.S. and South Korea responded by sending warplanes on a bombing drill targeting an uninhabited island in the Yellow Sea, according to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency.
The North Korean missile, which landed in the Pacific Ocean, marked the nation’s fifth round of weapons tests in 10 days. Its launch came a month after Pyongyang declared itself a nuclear weapons state with the right to make a preemptive strike and amid increasing insecurity for dictator Kim Jong Un.
