North Korea fired what appears to be a ballistic missile Wednesday, according to the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS). The Joint Chiefs said that U.S. and South Korean intelligence are collaborating on further analysis of the suspected launch.

Seoul stated the missile was fired from the northern Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) province of Jagang. South Korean and Japanese sources assessed that the missile flew approximately 500 km before landing in the East Sea outside of Japan’s exclusive economic zone. “Our military is maintaining readiness posture in preparation for a possible additional launch while closely monitoring the situation in close cooperation with the United States,” read a JCS statement.

South Korea’s National Security Council convened an emergency meeting, stating that the launch “came at a time when internal and external stability is extremely important” and calling on Pyongyang to resume denuclearization talks. The launch is said to have come just hours before South Korean president Moon Jae-in attended the opening ceremony of a new rail line that he hopes will eventually connect the Korean peninsula. "We should not give up the hope for dialogue in order to fundamentally overcome this situation," he said during the ceremony. "If both Koreas work together and build trust, peace would be achieved one day."

The alleged North Korean missile has not been identified as of the time of writing. "There's no way to assess whether this might have been a longer-range missile flown on a shortened trajectory," Ankit Panda of the Nuclear Policy Programme at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace told BBC News. The test, if confirmed, would be the DPRK’s first such launch since October 2021.

“The fact that North Korea has continued to launch missiles [in recent months] is absolutely regrettable,” Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida told reporters, according to the Washington Post. “We will continue to strengthen our surveillance more than ever.” As noted by The JapanTimes, some experts had expected that Pyongyang would refrain from overt military provocations so close to the February Winter Olympics in Beijing so as not to cause unnecessary diplomatic consternation for its Chinese patron.

The alleged missile launch comes amid a renewed push by President Moon Jae-in, who is set to leave office in coming months, to secure a lasting peace deal with Pyongyang. Kim Jong-un delivered a New Year’s address on January 1st calling for solutions to the country’s ongoing food shortages and other economic hardships. The speech focused largely on domestic issues and made no direct mention of either Washington or Seoul, though Kim noted that North Korea will continue to bolster its defense capabilities.

Mark Episkopos is a national security reporter for the National Interest.

Image: Reuters