Missile event in Korea, Democratic People's Republic of on Wed 17th April 2024

First known ballistic missile launch of 2024 comes after Kim Jong Un called for major reset in inter-Korean relations.North Korea launched a likely intermediate-range ballistic missile into the East Sea (Sea of Japan) Sunday afternoon, according to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).The missile was launched from around Pyongyang at 2:55 p.m. and is “presumed” to be intermediate-range, the JCS assessed. It splashed down after flying around 621 miles (1,000 kilometers).“The ROK military immediately detected, tracked and monitored the North Korean missile as soon as it was launched, and have closely shared the information with the U.S. and Japan” the JCS added later in the evening.South Korea, the U.S. and Japan implemented a real-time missile information system last month to better detect, track and monitor North Korean projectiles.The flight time was around 14 minutes, according to Japanese authorities, who also assessed that the missile had splashed down before 3:11 p.m. after a launch was detected at 2:57 p.m.This is North Korea’s first known ballistic missile launch of 2024. Kim Jong Un warned on New Year’s Eve that his military will prepare for a “great event” that “subjugates” South Korean territory, though it’s not immediately clear whether Sunday evening’s test is related.The last time the DPRK conducted a known missile launch was in mid-December when it test-fired a solid-fuel Hwasong-18 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in what state media called a “warning” to the U.S.The JCS has not yet released distance and trajectory estimates of the missile, but Kim Jong Un was pictured last week at a military factory that produces mobile launchers for shorter-range ballistic missiles. He demanded DPRK officials fix “flaws” at the site to prepare for war with South Korea.The launch comes a day after party daily Rodong Sinmun reported that the DPRK officials in charge of inter-Korean relations held a meeting on Friday to decide on which organs to eliminate.“The meeting decided to readjust all relevant organizations of the DPRK … organized for the improvement of the north-south relations and peaceful reunification in the past period,” the report stated on Saturday.The entities that Friday’s meeting attendees decided to dissolve are as follows: the North’s side’s Committee for Implementing June 15 Joint Declaration, the Headquarters of the Pan-national Alliance for Korea’s Reunification, the Consultative Council for National Reconciliation, and the Council for the Reunification of Tangun’s Nation.Kim Jong believes that “north-south relations have been completely fixed as the relations of two hostile and belligerent countries, not those of fellow countrymen and the same quality any longer,” the article added.Such moves are apparently part of a major reset in inter-Korean relations North Korea is embracing in the new year.Kim proclaimed that unification is no longer possible on Dec. 31 and that South Koreans should no longer be viewed as compatriots. North and South are instead hostile foreign states at “war,” he claimed at a major ruling party event at the end of December.Implementing Kim’s orders, the DPRK military resumed artillery drills near the maritime border last week — firing shells into what used to be a buffer zone under the Comprehensive Military Agreement — and conducted what it called a deception operation to hoodwink the ROK into believing that explosive discharges were artillery fire.Moreover, the leader’s sister Kim Yo Jong wrote a condescending message to the ROK president calling him “stupid” and belittling his attempts to fortify nuclear deterrence.The regime is also pulling back its online presence, shutting down or modifying Korean-language propaganda websites typically targeting South Korean audiences with pro-unification messaging.