China is North Korea’s only major ally, but ties between the neighbors have frayed amid a string of North Korean nuclear and missile tests and what many outsiders see as other provocations in recent years.
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“North Korea is trying to win some kind of political victory over the global community by flexing its missile power”, said Dr Lee Sang Soo from Korea National Defence University’s Research Institute for National Security Affairs.
The United States and Japan lodged a protest against Monday’s test-firing and requested a meeting of the UN Security Council in NY.
The isolated country has launched a series of missiles this year in defiance of UN Security Council resolutions.
At least one of the missiles fell into Japan’s Air Defense Identification Zone, a South Korean military official said by telephone.
In March the Council adopted the toughest sanctions ever imposed on North Korea in response to the country’s military programs.
“Today’s reckless launches by North Korea threaten civil aviation and maritime commerce in the region”, Kirby said, saying the United States would raise its concerns at the United Nations as well as at this week’s East Asia Summit in Laos.
“Looking at the fact that the three missiles have landed on nearly the same spot at nearly the same time, I think their missile technology has substantially improved”, said Japan’s Defense Minister Tomomi Inada.
In 2014, the North fired two Rodong medium-range missiles just as Park and Abe were meeting US President Barack Obama at the Hague to discuss responding to the North’s arms programme.
The launches also came hours after Chinese President Xi Jinping told his South Korean counterpart at the G20 that Beijing opposes the deployment of the United States’ THAAD missile defense system to South Korea.
The U.N. Security Council in late August strongly condemned four North Korean ballistic missile launches in July and August. Submarine-based missiles are harder to detect before launch than land-based ones like Rodongs.
The stated objective of the THAAD system is to defend South Korea from missile attack from the North, but Beijing views it as an attempt to shift the regional power balance in favor of USA allies.
The launching of the trio of Rodong mid-range missiles yesterday from Hwangju county in North Korea’s east coast around noon local time (11am Singapore time) drew condemnation from the United States and its allies, South Korea and Japan.
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That missile flew 500 kilometres towards Japan, far exceeding the range of the North’s previous sub-launched missiles. It called them “grave violations” of a ban on all ballistic missile activity.
