North Korea fired ballistic missiles into the sea on Sunday, accelerating its missile launches amid Iran war tensions and talk of possible meetings with the U.S. and South Korea.
Pyongyang’s intense missile activity - this was the fourth such launch this month and the seventh of the year - is meant to display its self-defence capabilities while gaining international leverage, some experts said.
“The missile launches may be a way of showing that - unlike Iran - we have self-defence capabilities,” said South Korean former presidential security adviser Kim Ki-jung.
“The North also appears to be exerting pressure preemptively and make a show of force before engaging in dialogue with the United States and South Korea,” he said.
The seven-week-old U.S.-Israeli war against Iran, which has as one aim the curbing of Tehran’s nuclear programme, could reinforce Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions, experts and former South Korean officials say.
