North Korea continues its ICBM and missile onslaught
With at least three missiles fired, including an intercontinental ballistic missile that compelled the Japanese government to issue evacuation advisories and temporarily halts rail service, North Korea has added to its recent bombardment of weapons tests.
North Korea launches missiles into the ocean off South Korea. A North Korean ballistic missile has never before descended thus far into South Korean territorial seas. Associated Press
South Korea’s SEOUL A total of three missiles were fired by North Korea on Thursday, including an intercontinental ballistic missile that prompted the Japanese government to issue evacuation advisories and temporarily halts rail service as part of its recent onslaught of weapons tests.
The launches are the most current in a string of recent North Korean missile tests that have heightened tensions in the area. They were launched a day after Pyongyang launched more than 20 missiles, which was a record for the country.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff of South Korea claimed to have seen the North launch an ICBM from a region close to Pyongyang at around 7:40 in the morning, followed an hour later by the launch of two short-range missiles from the neighbouring city of Kacheon that were aimed at its eastern shores.
According to South Korea’s military, the longer-range missile was fired at a high angle, possibly to avoid striking neighbouring countries’ territory. It travelled about 760 kilometres (472 miles) and reached a maximum altitude of 1,920 kilometres (1,193 miles).
The success of the launch wasn’t immediately apparent. Similar flight information was released by Japan’s defence minister, Yasukazu Hamada, although he added that his country’s military had lost track of the weapon after it “disappeared” in the sky above oceans between the Korean Peninsula and Japan.
When asked whether the military believes the launch may have failed with the missile bursting in flight, Choi Yong Soo, a South Korean Navy captain who manages public affairs for Seoul’s Defense Ministry, said that the test was still being examined.
According to unnamed military sources, the missile may have failed to sustain normal flight after stage separation, according to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency.
Initially worried that the ICBM would fly over its northern region, the Japanese government eventually changed its mind and declared there were no overflies.
The office of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida issued notifications urging inhabitants in the northern prefectures of Miyagi, Yamagata, and Niigata to enter commercial buildings or the underground via television, radio, mobile phones, and public loudspeakers.
No damage or casualties have been reported in the regions where the alerts were issued. Following the missile threat, bullet train service in affected areas was briefly interrupted before quickly resuming. Kishida denounced the launches by the North and stated that officials were investigating the specifics of the weapons.
According to the South Korean president’s office, Kim Sung-han, his national security director, discussed the launches at an emergency security meeting where participants also discussed strategies for bolstering the nation’s defence in tandem with its alliance with the United States.
In reaction to North Korea’s escalating testing, which the office claimed would only increase the North’s international isolation and cause greater economic shock for its people, South Korea announced it will continue its joint military drills with the United States.
One of the more than 20 missiles North Korea fired on Wednesday went in the direction of a populated South Korean island and landed close to the sensitive sea border between the two countries, setting off air raid sirens and compelling Ulleung island residents to leave. South Korea launched their own missiles in the same border region as a prompt response.
Those launches came after North Korea expressed its displeasure with ongoing military exercises between South Korea and the United States, which it views as a warm-up for a potential invasion, by threatening to use nuclear weapons to make the United States and South Korea “pay the most horrible price in history.”
This year, North Korea has increased the frequency of its weapons displays to a record level. It has launched a number of missiles, including its first intercontinental ballistic missile test since 2017, as it takes advantage of the diplomatic lull caused by Russia’s conflict in Ukraine to advance armaments development and increase pressure on the United States and its allies in Asia.
With an escalating nuclear strategy that permits preemptive nuclear assaults over a variety of vaguely defined crisis conditions, the North has punctuated its testing. North Korea may escalate the ante in the upcoming weeks with its first nuclear test device explosion since September 2017, according to U.S. and South Korean sources.
According to their offices, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke by phone with South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin about the missile launches on Wednesday, including the one that “recklessly and dangerously” came within range of the South Korean coastline. He emphasised the “ironclad” U.S. commitment to the security of its ally.
Ned Price, a spokesman for the State Department, also addressed worries about potential North Korean nuclear test preparations, which would be it’s eighth overall. Such tests, according to experts, may move North Korea one step closer to its objective of assembling a complete arsenal capable of endangering nearby allies of the United States and the American mainland.
Price noted that the test would be a “dangerous, reckless, destabilising act” and that there would be more costs and repercussions should Iran proceed with a seventh nuclear test.
In October, North Korea last fired a missile over Japan in what it claimed was a test of a new intermediate-range ballistic missile that, according to experts, may be able to reach Guam, a significant American military base in the Pacific. The Japanese government was compelled by that launch to halt train operations and issue evacuation alerts.
According to experts, North Korea is stepping up its brinkmanship in an effort to convince the United States that it is a nuclear state and to negotiate economic and security concessions from a position of strength.
Since the beginning of 2019, negotiations on the North’s disarmament efforts and the lifting of crushing U.S.-led sanctions against it have stagnated due to disputes.
The North has so far rejected pleas for ongoing negotiations from the Biden administration, asking that Washington first abandon its “hostile” policy, which it mostly uses to refer to sanctions and joint military drills with South Korea.
John Kirby, a spokesperson for the White House National Security Council, emphasised on Wednesday that the Biden administration has repeatedly attempted to contact North Korean officials through diplomatic channels and has made it clear that “we’re willing to sit down with North Korea without precondition to discuss the denuclearization of the peninsula.”
