North Korea fires most powerful missile since 2017, data suggests

North Korea on Sunday fired what appeared to be the most powerful missile it has tested since U.S. President Joe Biden took office.

North Korea on Sunday fired what appeared to be the most powerful missile it has tested since U.S. President Joe Biden took office, as it revives its old playbook in brinkmanship to wrest concessions from Washington and neighbours amid a prolonged stalemate in diplomacy.

Japanese officials said the missile, based on their initial assessment of its flight path, potentially reached a maximum altitude of 2,000 kilometers (1,242 miles) and traveled 800 kilometers (497 miles) before landing in the sea.

The flight details suggest the North tested its longest-range ballistic missile since 2017, when it flight-tested three intercontinental range ballistic missiles that demonstrated the potential range to reach deep into the American homeland.

Sunday’s test was the North’s 7th round of weapons launches this month. The unusually fast pace of tests indicate an intent to pressure the Biden administration over long-stalled nuclear negotiations.

The launch came after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un chaired a ruling party meeting on Jan. 20 where senior party members made a veiled threat to resume testing of nuclear explosives and ICBMs, which Kim suspended in 2018 while initiating diplomacy with the United States.

Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said the missile flew for around 30 minutes and landed in waters outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the North launched one suspected ballistic missile from a northern inland area but didn’t immediately provide further flight details.

The Japanese assessments suggest that the North tested an intermediate-range ballistic missile or possibly even a weapon approaching ICBM capacities, said Lee Choon Geun, a missile expert and honorary research fellow at South Korea’s Science and Technology Policy Institute.