On March 3, the South Korean government confirmed that North Korea shot up to six unidentified “projectiles”, believed to be short-range rockets or missiles, into the East Sea. The North gets particularly upset about the annual United States-South Korea drills, which it sees as a rehearsal for war.
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The North’s anger has been fuelled this year by reports that the drills included a “decapitation strike” scenario in which the North Korean leadership and command structure is taken out at the start of any conflict.
“We are reviewing the civil organization’s request to visit North Korea and deliver anti-tuberculosis drugs as the form of humanitarian aid”, said the unnamed MoU source, News1 agency reported.
China’s customs authorities are likely to inspect cargo destined for and coming from North Korea via the North’s state-run airline Air Koryo, the source said.
South Korean assets in the North have been in the Kaesong industrial zone.
The North Korean statement also criticized the recently passed South Korean sanctions, which targeted a total of 34 organizations and 43 individuals affiliated with the North Korean economy and transport of weapons of mass-destruction (WMD).
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon responded to the launch by calling on Pyongyang to “cease destabilising acts”, his spokesman said, adding that Ban remained “gravely concerned” by the situation on the Korean peninsula.
The moves are the latest in an escalating standoff between the Koreas that began in January when North Korea detonated what it said was an “H-bomb of justice”, its fourth nuclear test.
The statement called South Korea’s sanctions “laughable, unsightly” behavior, and it referred to South Korea’s president, Park Geun-hye, as an “American prostitute”.
“We urge North Korea to refrain from provocative actions and statements that aggravate tensions and instead focus on fulfilling its worldwide obligations and commitments”, a senior administration official said Monday.
Pyongyang has previously claimed it has nuclear warheads small enough to put on long-range missiles, but experts have questioned such claims. “I’d say the young man needs to pay more attention to the North Korean people and taking care of them, than in pursuing these sorts of reckless capabilities”, U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby said of Kim on Wednesday. If it’s serious of about calming tensions on the Korean peninsula, it will use that considerable influence.
It marked the first time in 2016 that North Korean forces fired short-range ballistic missiles.
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