US, Japan and South Korea meet over North Korea’s missile launches

The backstory:

• A ballistic missile is a missile that travels well outside the atmosphere. From there, the warhead detaches and falls back to Earth. Sort of similar to the path of a ball thrown upwards which falls down after.

• Essentially, the United Nations Security Council has banned North Korea from conducting nuclear tests and ballistic missile launches. But even though this is the case, the country has been unveiling and testing missiles for the past several years.

• In a confidential report by the UN, the group said that North Korea continued to develop its nuclear and ballistic missile programs over the past 12 months. On top of this, it’s believed that North Korea has been launching cyberattacks on crypto exchanges.

• In 2017, North Korea tested several missiles, which led to more sanctions against the economy.

• And in January 2021, North Korea unveiled another missile – a new type of submarine-launched ballistic missile. The country said it was “the world’s most powerful weapon."

• Now, it’s said that North Korea has carried out nine ballistic missile launches last month, which is the most in a single month in the history of the country’s nuclear and missile programs.

The development:

• According to the United States state department on Sunday, the US special representative for North Korea, Sung Kim, will meet with Japanese and South Korean officials.

• The meeting will take place from February 10-15 and will look “to discuss a broad range of issues, including the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," the department said in a statement.