North Korea fired two more ballistic missiles overnight from Saturday to Sunday, hours after the end of joint military maneuvers involving a US nuclear-powered aircraft carrier off the Korean peninsula.
Earlier on Saturday, Pyongyang had defended the recent acceleration of its weapons tests as a “legitimate reaction” to “direct military threats from the United States”. This is the seventh missile launch in two weeks.
Faced with stalled negotiations, Pyongyang has stepped up activities related to its banned weapons programs, firing an intermediate-range ballistic missile past Japan last week. And officials and experts have warned that the North Korean regime has completed preparations for another nuclear test.
The South Korean army announced on Sunday that it had “detected between 1:48 a.m. and 1:58 a.m. two short-range ballistic missiles fired from the Munchon area in Kangwon province towards the East Sea”, also called the South Sea. Japan.
The missiles “flew [sur une distance] approximately 350 kilometers at an altitude of 90 kilometers,” Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement, citing a “serious provocation.”
Tokyo also confirmed the firing of the two missiles, with the Japanese Coast Guard saying they appeared to have landed outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone.
Japanese Deputy Defense Minister Toshiro Ino said Tokyo was analyzing the missiles, adding that “either could be a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM)”.
Seoul said last month it had detected evidence that the North was preparing to fire an SLBM, a device Pyongyang last tested in May.
The Indo-Pacific Command of the United States (IndoPacom) for its part affirmed in a press release “to consult closely its allies and partners”, adding that the shooting highlights the “destabilizing” nature of the North Korean missile programs.
Tests and exercises
North Korea’s missile launches are usually aimed at developing new capabilities. But his recent trials “from different locations and at different times of the day may be intended to demonstrate [leur] military readiness,” said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul.
“It’s not just for self-defense and deterrence as Pyongyang claims,” he told AFP. According to him, “the Kim regime is trying to coerce Seoul, Tokyo and Washington to abandon their security cooperation”.
At an emergency meeting of the National Security Council in Seoul following the missile test, however, South Korean officials promised to strengthen such cooperation, according to a statement.
North Korea has been conducting a record number of trials since the beginning of the year. The country adopted a new doctrine in September stating that its status as a nuclear power is “irreversible”.
In response to the growing threat from the North, Seoul, Tokyo and Washington conducted joint military maneuvers. The American aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan and its strike group were redeployed to the area last week.
No new penalties
Analysts say Pyongyang has taken advantage of dissension within the United Nations Security Council to carry out ever more extensive weapons tests.
Last week, the Security Council met urgently after the flight over Japan by a North Korean missile. But during this meeting, China, a historic ally of Pyongyang, of which it is also an economic support, criticized Washington for having provoked the series of launches with its maneuvers in the region.
In May, China and Russia had vetoed a strengthening of sanctions against Pyongyang demanded by Washington.
According to Soo Kim, analyst at RAND Corporation, Kim Jong-un benefits from the poor relations of the United States with Russia and China. “It is therefore unlikely that we will see Moscow or Beijing supporting the United States on the North Korean issue anytime soon,” she said.
Seoul and Washington have been warning for months that Pyongyang will carry out another nuclear test, likely after the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) congress due to open on October 16.
“A series of missile tests like the one we saw could be a sign of preparation for a nuclear test, but it is quite difficult to predict the [calendrier] with precision,” Ankit Panda, security analyst for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told AFP.
According to him, “a test can take place almost immediately after Kim gives the order”.