But what stood out about the launch early Monday was how it demonstrated the North’s steady progress in developing its missile systems targeting neighbors (and United States allies) like Japan an South Korea, US military forces in the region, and even to some extent the continental US.
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In 2014, the North fired two Rodong medium-range missiles just as Park and Abe were meeting U.S. President Barack Obama at the Hague to discuss responding to the North’s arms program.
It was the latest in a series of missile tests conducted by the North despite United Nations resolutions prohibiting it from using ballistic missile technology.
North Korea “must halt all missile launches using ballistic missile technology and abandon its ballistic missile programmes in a complete, verifiable and irreversible manner”, the European union said in a statement.
“The three missiles landed simultaneously at nearly exactly the same location”, said Defense Minister Tomomi Inada, expressing concern about a clear improvement in accuracy. Moreover, the United States recently agreed to deploy the THAAD missile defense system in South Korea, a move that both China and Russian Federation have criticized.
The launch was widely condemned by the U.S. and other major powers but analysts saw it as a clear step forward for North Korea’s nuclear strike ambitions.
The discussion – requested by council members Japan and the United States – is slated to begin at 11:30 am local time (1530 GMT) in NY, where the council will consider a response to the latest missile launches.
The launches came four days before the 68th anniversary of the establishment of the North Korean government and a day after a new law went into effect in South Korea aimed at documenting human rights abuses in the North. But, the wire service writes, “the latest firing won’t help” Xi’s efforts.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff concluded that the missiles are the Rodong, a medium-range ballistic missile with an estimated maximum flight distance of about 1,300km. Just a few years ago, the Asian Communist nation’s missile launches perennially ended in catastrophic failure. In June, after a string of failures, North Korea sent an intermediate Musudan missile more than 1,400 kilometers (870 miles) high in a test launch that outside analysts said showed progress in efforts to acquire the ability to strike USA forces in the region.
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The missile, fired from off the northeastern port of Sinpo, flew 500 kilometers (around 300 miles) towards Japan, far exceeding the range of the North’s previous sub-launched missiles. It called them “grave violations” of a ban on all ballistic missile activity.
