This week North Korea after five years launched a ballistic missile that flew over the Japanese mainland, which he ran into sharp reactions from a number of world powers. Tokyo said no defensive measures were taken to destroy the missile, the first to fly over the Japanese islands since 2017.

According to reports, the missile traveled 4.500 kilometers before finally falling into the Pacific Ocean. With such a range, the tested missile could have hit the US island of Guam if fired on a different trajectory.

North Korea's missile tests intensified in 2022, and already in June they were at a record high level. According to data from the Nuclear Threat Initiative, North Korea's testing of such missiles is on the rise again after 2018, when the country did not conduct a single test. In 2018 and early 2019, two summits between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and then-US President Donald Trump halted such tests, but ultimately yielded no concrete results as rhetoric between the two nations quickly heated up again.

2019 ended with as many missile tests as 2017, when North Korea's demonstration of its ability to reach the United States with its missiles led to a diplomatic crisis.

Although there were no intercontinental and intermediate-range missile tests between 2018 and 2021, North Korea has already conducted one such successful test this year.

Types of ballistic missiles

According to the data, since 2012, North Korea has carried out short, medium, long and intercontinental range tests. There are also several other types of missiles that remain unknown for the time being.

Short-range missiles are those that have a range of 300 to 1.000 kilometers. Medium-range ones have a range of 1.000 to 3.500 km, while long-range ones have a range of 3.500 to 5.500 km. Intercontinental missiles have a range of over 5.500 kilometers.

North Korea has conducted 1984 missile tests since 191.