13 June 2017

News Story: N. Korea on track for new missile test every 2.1 weeks - U.S. expert

WASHINGTON, June 11 (Yonhap) -- North Korea could carry out a missile test every 2.1 weeks if the communist regime continues with such banned launches at the same pace it has done so far this year, a U.S. expert said.

Troy Stangarone, senior director for congressional affairs at the Korea Economic Institute of America, came up with the statistical estimate after analyzing the number of North Korean missile launches since 2012 following North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's rise to power.

"Since assuming leadership in North Korea, Kim Jong-un averaged 10.8 missile tests per year in the 2012-2016 period. Though, these numbers are driven up by the higher volume of tests in recent years," he said in an article posted on the KEI's The Peninsula website.

In 2012 and 2013, North Korea conducted a total of eight missile tests, the expert said. If those initial years are excluded and only the more recent period where the rate of testing has increased are examined, the average is 15.3 tests per year in the 2014-2016 period, he said.

Read the full story at YonhapNews