(AP Photo/Ng Han Guan).
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South Korean President Park Geun-hye said at a summit meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday that North Korea’s fourth nuclear test and missile launches posed a challenge to the South’s ties with China, Yonhap news agency reported.
China is one of North Korea’s only patrons, but has been unwilling or unable to control Pyongyang’s nuclear and ballistic missile ambitions, even as it has backed UN Security Council resolutions.
The show of force comes some two weeks after North Korea conducted a submarine-launched ballistic missile test.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un guides on the spot the underwater test-fire of strategic submarine ballistic missile in this undated photo released by North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang on April 24, 2016.
The medium-range Rodong-class missiles flew about 1,000 km (620 miles) before landing in the Sea of Japan, South Korea’s military said.
In early August, another Rodong missile fired by North Korea also traveled about 1,000 kilometers, the longest-ever flight by that missile.
The government said in a statement that it will strongly protest the launches with Pyongyang and underscored the fact that the launches violate the ban imposed by the UN Security Council on the DPRK from using missile technology.
Japan’s Foreign Ministry says Prime Minister Shinzo Abe approached South Korean President Park Gewn-hye during a coffee break at the G-20 and agreed to cooperate closely. Xi also told Park that Beijing opposed the proposed deployment of a THAAD anti-missile system in South Korea, which Seoul and the United States have said is created to counter an increasing threat from North Korea. President Barack Obama was to head to Laos on Monday evening.
Before Monday’s launch, on the sidelines of the G-20 summit, Park criticized the North for what she called provocations that are hurting Seoul-Beijing ties.
Relations between Seoul and Beijing have cooled since South Korea announced plans to deploy a U.S. anti-missile defence system on the peninsula. “It seems to have been motivated by the G20 summit and the North’s national foundation day on September 9”, JCS said.
The launch also comes days after South Korean and USA troops ended annual joint summertime military drills, which North Korea regularly describes as a dress rehearsal for invasion.
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In July, the North launched three missiles in a single day from the western region that flew across the country and into the sea off its east coast, flying about 500 km and 600 km (300-360 miles).
