Pyongyang has fired off a spate of missiles since the beginning of the year, but this is just the second time North Korean missiles have landed inside Japan’s EEZ.
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Such tests are fairly common when worldwide attention is turned to Northeast Asia, and this one comes as world leaders are gathering for the G-20 summit of advanced and emerging economies in the city of Hangzhou in eastern China.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is pictured during a test-fire of strategic submarine-launched ballistic missile in this undated photo released by North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang in August.
In keeping with past practice, North Korea on Monday launched 3 test missiles into the Sea of Japan just as the G20 meeting in Hangzhou, China, had gotten started.
Defense Minister Tomomi Inada indicated that Monday’s missiles seem to have fallen around the same area, an indication that the North is enhancing is missile capabilities and presents a grave national security threat to Japan.
The White House said the United States was closely monitoring what it described as the latest provocation by North Korea.
The sabre-rattling follows the North’s submarine-launched ballistic missile test some two weeks ago. One missile reportedly entered Japan’s Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ).
The government said that it has, along with Japan’s coast guard, been gathering information as to whether any vessel or aircraft in the region along the projectiles’ flight paths and landing spots in the Sea of Japan have been damaged, but confirmed that it had received no report of damage or injury as yet.
In July, the North launched three missiles in a single day from the western region that flew across the country and into the sea off its east coast. “That said, these missiles are certainly created to strike Japan should Kim Jong Un choose that”.
The leaders of G-20 countries also expressed concerns over North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats, the ministry said.
South Korean President Park Geun-hye “pleaded” with Chinese President Xi Jinping to drop his opposition to her plan to install a missile defense system built by Lockheed Martin Corp. He also reaffirmed China’s commitment to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
The United States has about 28,500 troops stationed in South Korea.
Xi also told Park that Beijing opposed the proposed deployment of a THAAD anti-missile system in South Korea, which Seoul and the United States have said is created to counter an increasing missile threat from North Korea.
Xi is said to have reaffirmed China’s commitment to the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, China’s state news agency Xinhua reported on September 5.
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“THAAD has a range that could hit weapons in China”, said Yvonne Chiu, an expert on military policy and diplomacy at Hong Kong University.
