Speaking after the U.N. Security Council met on North Korea’s missile launch on Wednesday, which landed in Japanese controlled waters for the first time, Power said the anti-missile system was to defend against the threat by North Korea.
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The missiles, presumed to be No Dong, or Rodong, intermediate range ballistic ones, were fired simultaneously from the country’s west, the U.S. Strategic Command said.
Peter Wilson, British deputy ambassador to the United Nations, said that North Korea firing a missile into Japan’s Exclusive Economic Zone was “something the (Security) Council should take extremely seriously”.
Signs of discord have emerged in global collaboration on North Korea’s nuclear and missile provocations in the face of China’s opposition to installing a U.S.’ antimissile system in South Korea.
The launch comes about two weeks after defense officials in Seoul reported that North Korea had fired three ballistic missiles into the sea. South Korea’s ambassador to the United Nations called the launch a clear and present danger, . noting that the series of missile launches in recent months have been carried out to allow the North to upgrade and refine its missile technologies.
A missile fired from North Korea landed in the sea off the Japanese coast, in a launch condemned as “outrageous” and a danger to peace in the region.
Japan’s ministry of defense said the second landed inside a 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone where Japan claims sovereign rights to exploitation and exploration of resources – the first time a North Korean missile had encroached upon that zone, according to Japanese media.
Wednesday’s launch of two mid-range missiles-Pyongyang is thought to possess an arsenal including 300 Rodong missiles, which have a maximum range of 800 miles, far enough to strike mainland Japan-were condemned by government officials in Japan, South Korea, and the U.S. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan called the episode a “serious threat to Japan’s security” and an “unforgivable act of violence”. STRATCOM tracked the other missile into the Sea of Japan, but did not specify if the splashdown was simply near or actually inside Japanese waters.
After all, North Korea had pledged a “physical response” when America announced it would deploy its THAAD nuclear shield in neighbouring South Korea.
In March the United Nations imposed harsh new worldwide sanctions on Pyongyang for conducting its fourth nuclear test and another long-range rocket launch in violation of Security Council resolutions banning North Korea from developing nuclear and ballistic missile weapons.
“If the new defense minister makes comments which trigger conflict with South Korea, it will complicate cooperation efforts”, said Japan analyst Hosaka Yuji with Sejong University in Seoul.
Washington, which maintains strong economic and military ties with Japan and South Korea, also denounced the North’s most recent test.
The council last adopted a statement condemning North Korea for two medium-range missile tests on June 23. North Korea has tested four nuclear bombs since 2006, most recently in January this year. North Korea describes the drills as an invasion rehearsal.
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The missile test is speculated to be in response to South Korean President Park Geun-Hye’s decision to install an American anti-missile defense system.
