North Korea yesterday test-fired two short-range ballistic missiles, its neighbors said, the fourth round this week of weapons launches that prompted quick, strong condemnation from its rivals.
In an unusually strong rebuke of North Korea’s weapons programs, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol said North Korea’s “obsession” with nuclear weapons is deepening the suffering of its own people, and warned of an “overwhelming response” from South Korean and US militaries if such weapons are used.
“North Korea hasn’t abandoned its obsession with nukes and missiles despite the persistent international objection in the past 30 years,” Yoon said during an Armed Forces Day ceremony at the military headquarters in central South Korea. “The development of nuclear weapons will plunge the lives of North Korean people in further pains.”
Photo: EPA-EFE
“If North Korea attempts to use nukes, it’ll face a resolute, overwhelming response by the South Korea-US alliance and our military,” Yoon said.
Yoon’s comments could enrage North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, who in July alleged that Yoon’s government was led by “confrontation maniacs” and “gangsters.”
Kim has also rebuffed Yoon’s offers of massive assistance in return for denuclearization. The North’s testing spree this week is seen as a response to recent naval drills between South Korea and the US, and other training exercises involving Japan. North Korea views such military exercises as an invasion rehearsal and argues they reveal US and South Korean “double standards” because they brand the North’s weapons tests as provocation.
South Korean, Japanese and US militaries yesterday said they detected the two North Korean missile launches. South Korea said the liftoffs occurred from North Korea’s capital region.
South Korean and Japanese estimates show that the missiles flew about 350km to 400km at a maximum altitude of 30km to 50km before landing in the waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan. Japanese Vice Defense Minister Toshiro Ino said the missiles showed an “irregular” trajectory, suggesting that they were likely nuclear-capable, highly maneuverable missiles modeled after Russia’s Iskander missile.
The five other ballistic missiles fired by North Korea on three occasions this week show similar trajectories to the ones detected yesterday.
“The repeated ballistic missile firings by North Korea are a grave provocation that undermines peace and security on the Korean Peninsula and in the international community,” the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.
Ino called the launches “absolutely impermissible,” adding that four rounds of missile testing by North Korea in a week is “unprecedented.”
On Friday, South Korea, the US and Japan held their first trilateral anti-submarine drills in five years off the Korean Peninsula’s east coast. Earlier this week, South Korean and US warships conducted bilateral exercises in the area for four days. Both military drills this week involved the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan. The North Korean missile tests also bookended US Vice President Kamala Harris’ visit on Thursday to South Korea, where she reaffirmed the US’ “ironclad” commitment to the security of its Asian allies.
Worries about North Korea’s nuclear program have grown since the North last month adopted a new law authorizing the preemptive use of nuclear weapons in certain situations, a move that shows an escalation in its nuclear doctrine.
In a speech yesterday, Yoon said the North Korean law threatens South Korea’s national existence and that Seoul would expand military exercises with Washington and bolster South Korea’s missile strike and surveillance capacities in response. South Korean officials have typically avoided harsh rhetoric on North Korea to prevent an escalation of animosities, but South Korean Ministry of National Defense has warned that North Korea would self-destruct if it uses its nuclear weapons.
Experts say Kim eventually wants to use the enlarged nuclear arsenal to pressure the US and others accept his country as a legitimate nuclear state, a recognition he views as necessary to win the lifting of international sanctions and other concessions. Multiple UN Security Council resolutions ban North Korea from testing ballistic missiles and nuclear devices. The country’s missile launches this year are seen as exploiting a divide at the UN council over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and US-China tensions.
“North Korea’s frequent short-range missile tests may strain the isolated state’s resources. But because of deadlock on the UN Security Council, they are a low-cost way for the Kim regime to signal its displeasure with Washington and Seoul’s defense exercises while playing the domestic politics of countering an external threat,” Ewha University professor Leif-Eric Easley said.
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