SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea fired a long-range missile from its capital into the sea off Japan on Saturday, according to its neighbors, a day after threatening to take strong action against South Korea. South and the United States regarding their cooperation military exercises.
According to the South Korean and Japanese militaries, the missile was fired at a high angle, apparently to avoid reaching neighboring territories, and traveled about 900 kilometers (560 miles) at a maximum altitude of 5,700 kilometers (3,500 miles) for one hour flight.
The details were similar to the test flight of North Korea’s Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile in November, which experts say demonstrated the potential to reach the American mainland if fired on a normal trajectory.
Japanese government spokesman Hirokazu Matsuno said no damage was reported from the missile, which landed in Japan’s exclusive economic zone, about 200 kilometers (125 miles) west of Oshima Island. Oshima lies off the west coast of the northernmost main island of Hokkaido.
North Korea’s foreign ministry on Friday threatened “unprecedented” action against its rivals, after South Korea announced a series of military exercises with the United States aimed at fine-tuning its response to growing threats North.
While the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said the launch posed no immediate threat to U.S. personnel, territory, or allies, the White House National Security Council said it unnecessarily raised tensions and risked to destabilize the security situation in the region.
“This only goes to show that the DPRK continues to prioritize its illegal weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs over the welfare of its people,” he said, calling it ” flagrant violation of multiple UN Security Council resolutions.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s office said its director of national security, Kim Sung-han, chaired an emergency security meeting that accused the North of escalating regional tensions. He denounced North Korea for accelerating its development of nuclear weapons despite signs of worsening economic problems and food insecurity, saying such actions would only lead to tougher international sanctions.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Tokyo was communicating closely with Washington and Seoul over the launch, which he called “an act of violence that escalates the provocation towards the international order”.
The launch was North Korea’s first since Jan. 1, when it tested a close-range weapon. It followed a massive military parade in Pyongyang last week, where troops deployed more than a dozen ICBMs as leader Kim Jong Un watched from a balcony.
The unprecedented number of missiles underscored his country’s continued expansion of military capabilities despite limited resources as negotiations with Washington remain deadlocked.
These missiles included a new system, experts say, possibly related to the North’s stated desire to acquire a solid-fuel ICBM. North Korea’s existing ICBMs, including the Hwasong-17s, use liquid propellants that require pre-launch injections and cannot remain powered for long periods. An alternative to solid fuels would take less time to prepare and is easier to move around on vehicles, offering less chance of being spotted.
It was not immediately clear if Saturday’s launch involved a solid-fuel system.
“North Korean missile launches are often tests of technologies under development, and it will be remarkable if Pyongyang claims progress with a long-range solid-fuel missile,” said studies professor Leif-Eric Easley. studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul. . “The Kim regime may also present the launch as a response to US defense cooperation with South Korea and sanctions diplomacy at the United Nations.”
North Korea has just had a record year of weapons demonstrations with more than 70 ballistic missiles fired, including those likely to reach the American mainland. The North also carried out a series of launches it described as mock nuclear attacks on South Korean and US targets in response to allies’ resumption of large-scale joint military exercises that had been scaled back for years. .
SHOW: South Korea worries about US protection as North ramps up missile tests
North Korea’s missile tests have been punctuated by threats of pre-emptive nuclear attacks against South Korea or the United States over what it perceives to be a wide range of scenarios that threaten its leadership.
Kim doubled his nuclear push as he entered 2023, calling for an “exponential increase” in the country’s nuclear warheads, mass production of tactical battlefield nuclear weapons targeting “enemy” South Korea and to the development of more advanced ICBMs.
North Korea’s statement on Friday accused Washington and Seoul of planning more than 20 rounds of military exercises this year, including large-scale field exercises, and described its rivals as “the major criminals who deliberately disrupt regional peace and stability”.
South Korean Defense Ministry officials told lawmakers earlier that Seoul and Washington would hold annual combined computer-simulated training in mid-March. The 11-day training will reflect North Korea’s nuclear threats, as well as unspecified lessons from the Russian-Ukrainian war, according to Heo Tae-keun, South Korea’s deputy minister of national defense policy. Heo said the countries would also conduct joint field exercises in mid-March that would be larger than those held in recent years.
South Korea and the United States will also hold a one-day tabletop exercise next week at the Pentagon to refine a response to a potential use of nuclear weapons by North Korea.
North Korea has traditionally described U.S.-South Korean military drills as rehearsals for a possible invasion, while allies insist their drills are defensive in nature.
LEARN MORE: US and allies in Asia ready for ‘aggression’ from China and North Korea, general says
The United States and South Korea have reduced or canceled some of their major exercises in recent years, first to support the former Trump administration’s diplomatic efforts with Pyongyang, then because of COVID-19. But growing nuclear threats from North Korea have heightened the urgency for South Korea and Japan to strengthen their defense postures in line with their alliances with the United States.
South Korea is seeking assurances that the United States will quickly and decisively use its nuclear capabilities to protect its ally in the face of a North Korean nuclear attack. By expanding its military exercises with South Korea, the United States has also expressed its commitment to increasing its deployment of strategic military assets such as fighter jets and aircraft carriers to the Korean Peninsula in a show of force.
In December, Japan made a major break from its strictly post-World War II self-defense principle, adopting a new national security strategy that includes preemptive strikes and cruise missiles to counter growing threats from South Korea. North, China and Russia.
Associated Press writer Yuri Kageyama in Tokyo contributed to the report.
gb7
Don’t miss interesting posts on Famousbio
