North Korea Spent up to $650 Million on Missile Tests So Far in 2022: Report

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (C) walks around a Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on the launcher at an undisclosed location in North Korea on March 24, 2022. Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP

North Korea’s barrage of missile tests in the past six months may have cost between $400 million to $650 million, according to data released by a government-affiliated research center in South Korea.

Pyongyang has conducted 18 missile launches involving 33 ballistic missiles since the beginning of 2022, Nikkei Asia reported, citing data from the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses (KIDA).