North Korea’s late night missile test may hint at broader strategy

In the early hours of Wednesday morning, with the temperature probably hovering around the freezing point, a team of engineers and military experts were gathered North Korea’s South Pyongan province. Just before 3 a.m. they launched a missile into the sky. It flew for 54 minutes and reached a height of about 2,800 miles before crashing down into waters in Japan’s exclusive economic zone.

The missile test, the North’s first in 74 days, quickly raised a number of questions for the United States and its allies. But for many observers — particularly those in East Asia — a more immediate query sprang to mind: Why would Pyongyang test a ballistic missile in the middle of a bitterly cold night?

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