Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters in Tokyo that the test Saturday is “a clear challenge to UN [United Nations] Security Council resolutions”.
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South Korea “strongly condemns” what it calls North Korea’s “provocative behavior”, according to the Joint Chiefs.
The Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, anti-missile system will be used only as protection against North Korea’s growing nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities, South Korea’s Defence Ministry and the U.S. Defense Department said.
“North Korea has been persistent in violating United Nations resolutions by launching ballistic missiles continuously”, the defence ministry in Seoul said. Beijing has feared that could strengthen US missile defense systems and weaken its own nuclear deterrent, although defense officials here said it would not make much difference to the USA military.
“We have every reason, and the right, to question the real conspiracy behind this move”, Wang was quoted by state news agency Xinhua as saying during a trip to Sri Lanka. However, this initiative comes amid regional tensions exacerbated by claims made by Beijing in the South China Sea.
Still, China could use its intertwined economic relations with South Korea to get revenge, some experts predict, citing China’s export ban of rare earth resources to Japan in a territory dispute in 2012.
However, while angering the Chinese, the THAAD system would prove incapable of fulfilling its stated objective of intercepting North Korean missiles aimed at South Korea, Postol warned.
A North Korean submarine fired a ballistic missile which “fell into the sea” during a botched weapons test.
The main opposition Minjoo Party said it wasn’t opposed to the deployment, but it criticized the government’s diplomatic and security strategies in addressing China’s concerns.
The UN Security Council has adopted five resolutions during the last decade meant to sanction North Korea for its nuclear weapon program, including items that specifically prohibit Pyongyang from conducting missile tests.
The missile flew only a few kilometers before the presumed explosion, it said.
It says the missile was launched in waters east of the Korean peninsula – the latest in a recent series of tests.
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NATO military head US General Curtis Scaparrotti, who was previously head of US forces in South Korea, said North Korea’s latest actions showed progress.
