The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) fired one ballistic missile into east waters from its west region, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said on Wednesday.
Advertisement
According to reports, the main body of the missile landed in Japan’s economic exclusion zone, escalating regional tensions that were already high after futile negotiations with North Korea regarding missile launches. The statement released said that initial indications reveal one of the missiles exploded after launch.
Outsiders believe North Korea intends the launches and tests to display its arsenal and its ability to attack rival South Korea and USA military bases in Asia in reaction to a US plan to deploy an advanced military defense system in the South by the end of 2017.
North Korea’s top diplomat dealing with USA affairs told ABC News the kind of missile launch seen on Wednesday is a direct response to the “constant nuclear blackmails of the United States and to strengthen our nuclear deterrent forces in every way”.
With Wednesday’s launches, Pyongyang was signaling to Tokyo that it also had the capacity to strike Japan, noted Graham of the Lowy Institute. From the perspective of the safety of aircraft and ships, it is an extremely problematic, risky act.
Tensions have been flaring in the region since January, when North Korea said it had successfully detonated a hydrogen bomb, its fourth nuclear test, and vowed to build up its nuclear program as deterrence against potential aggression from the United States and its regional allies. This is believed to be the longest ever distance covered by a missile from the North.
The missile was launched from an area in North Korea’s South Hwanghae province, in the country’s southwest.
The North’s provocation also came one day before the first anniversary of a land mine explosion near the inter-Korean border blamed on North Korea.
In flight time, that meant the missile was only 20 or 30 seconds from Japan itself, said Euan Graham, who served as a British diplomat in Pyongyang.
A man passes by as a TV news shows an image of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un published Thursday in North Korea’s Rodong Sinmun newspaper, at Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, June 23, 2016.
The Rodong is a scaled-up Scud variant with a maximum range of around 1,300 kilometres.
Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said: “It’s a serious threat against our country’s security”.
“North Korea is openly showing its direct and obvious intention of provocation”.
In response to Seoul’s decision to deploy a THAAD battery, North Korea warned last month that it will take “physical counter-action” to counter the anti-missile shield.
South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-Se said Wednesday’s missile test only served to “underline the need to deploy THAAD”. In June, Pyongyang successfully tested a new type of midrange missile that could threaten US bases in Guam or Japan.
“We call on North Korea to refrain from actions and rhetoric that further raise tensions in the region and to focus instead on taking concrete steps toward fulfilling its commitments and global obligations and commitments”, Mason said. Kim Hyun-bin, Arirang News.
North Korea has recently claimed a series of technical breakthroughs in its goal of acquiring a long-range nuclear missile capable of reaching the continental US.
Pyongyang has repeatedly warned of pre-emptive nuclear strikes against the South and US targets.
Advertisement
Fears about North Korea’s technical abilities have been mounting.
