ballistic missiles a short time ago. south korea s joint chiefs of staff say the projectiles were launched from somewhere near pyongyang s international airport early monday local time into the sea to the east. cnn s blake esick is following developments and joins mep live from tokyo. good to see you, blake. so the fourth time in a month that north korea has apparently tested ballistic missiles? what is going on here? reporter: you know, rosemary, it s been a busy start to 2022 for north korea s missile program. as you said, four missile tests in january alone. that s compared to two tests in all of 2021. but this recent flurry of tests shouldn t exactly come as a surprise. that s because north korea historically isn t known to make empty threats and these recent tests all come just a few weeks after north korea urbane leader kim jong un promised to further strengthen his country s military capability during a speech closing out its five-day party meeting. and in a recent statement
been the blatant violations that a nuclear test or intercontinental ballistic missile launches we saw. tensions have been rising, and nuclear watch donkdogs say nort korea has been growing its nuclear arsenal. so what this could mean is that north korea is producing plutonium to make more warheads. this is an escalation. it could be a precursor to more provocative activity on the part of the north koreans. and sources say the north koreans are frustrated with the ice. they feel they are not high if you have on the biden administration s priority list, as he deals with the crisis in afghanistan, escalating tensions with china and the stalled iran deal, perhaps by visibly restarting operations. it s also believed they have another complex near pyongyang
concerned. another major issue in play this week is the state of three korean american hostages being held near pyongyang had once in 2015 and 2 cents 2017. recent days the president himself has treated about and discuss their status publicly, the sum of his key advisers are stirring conversation away. what you think is the most important thing in north korea? i would argue the fact north korea and south korea come together in north korea has agreed to certain conditions. lots of moving pieces need to fall into place before president trump comes face-to-face with kim jong un later this month or early next. loretta. thanks much for that report. tranter resting in immigrant accused of overseeing a work visa. connection to a car crash that killed an fbi agent and fire marshal. it happened last year when cinder cone pulled over on the side of the highway to help agent carlos wolf. his vehicle at crash there.
all right, jonathan karl for us at the white house. another big story, the latest provocation from north korea. reports of a new ballistic missile launch. this one passing over japanese air space, and abc s chief international correspondent, terry moran joins me from london. what do we know about the missile and the response in the region? reporter: this is another serious escalation. north korea firing a missile, crossing over japanese air space. that s something they have done three times before, but not without warning. or at a time of such escalating tension. so the ballistic missile was launched from near pyongyang, flew east passing over japan before landing in the ocean of hokkaido. japan s government went on high alert, actually warning people in the north to take cover. this is the latest in a series of provocations from north korea, which recently tested an intercontinental ballistic missile that may be capable of reaching major u.s. cities. north korean dictator, kim jon
up with general h.r. mcmaster and nikki haley as they participate in today s white house press briefing. that is set to begin minutes from now, we will take you there live as it happens. the president in south korea certainly not ready to just take this lying down. absolutely not, all the regional neighbors reacting to the latest provocation from north korea, the most successful launch of an intermediate range missile we saw in person in pyongyang at a military parade in april. this missile launched from a site in near pyongyang, the u.. military bases this one was not. south korea has been monitoring