North Korea on Thursday launched two new ballistic missiles and flew 12 fighter jets in formation, saying the weapons tests are “just retaliation” against Washington and Seoul and their military exercises in the region.
The new firings came as the UN Security Council met in New York to discuss the launch of another North Korean missile that had flown over Japan two days earlier.
According to the South Korean army, two short-range missiles were launched Thursday morning from around Pyongyang towards the Sea of Japan. The Japanese Coast Guard confirmed having detected these projectiles.
The first missile traveled 350 kilometers at a maximum altitude of around 80 kilometers, according to the South Korean military’s analysis. The second flew a distance of 800 kilometers at an altitude of 60 kilometers.
On the same day, 12 North Korean fighter jets—eight fighters and four bombers—“conducted a formation flight north of the inter-Korean air border (and) are believed to have conducted air-to-ground gunnery exercises,” the Seoul Joint Chiefs of Staff announced Thursday evening.
The sixth missile launch in less than two weeks is “absolutely unacceptable”, reacted Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
On Tuesday, a Hwasong-12-type missile flew over Japan and traveled about 4,600 km, probably the longest distance Pyongyang has ever reached in its tests, according to Seoul and Washington.
It was the first time in five years that a North Korean projectile passed over Japanese territory.
North Korea, which in September adopted a new doctrine making its status as a nuclear power “irreversible”, this year stepped up its firing and launched an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) for the first time since 2017.
“Just retaliation measures”
The firings are “the Korean People’s Army’s just retaliation against the joint military maneuvers between South Korea and the United States that are causing an escalation of military tensions on the Korean Peninsula”, the North Korean ministry said Thursday. Korean in a statement.
Following Tuesday’s launch, Washington had called for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council. But China, an ally and economic partner of North Korea, also blamed the United States.
Pyongyang’s missile tests are “closely linked” to US-South Korean military exercises, Chinese Deputy Ambassador to the United Nations Geng Shuang told the Council.
He accused Washington of “poisoning the regional security environment”.
Seoul, Tokyo and Washington have stepped up joint military maneuvers in recent weeks, including anti-submarine drills and large-scale naval maneuvers.
The allies conducted a joint ‘missile defense’ exercise in waters off the peninsula on Thursday, which included a US Navy destroyer from the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier strike group, the military said. South Korean.
Seoul said the exercise aims to “strengthen operational capabilities and position to respond to North Korea’s provocations (by sending) missiles”.
Washington redeployed the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan to waters east of Korea after North Korea fired on Tuesday. He had carried out exercises with the South Korean navy in September.
“Cycle of armed provocation”
The North Korean Foreign Ministry said this poses “a serious threat to the stability of the situation on the Korean Peninsula”.
On Wednesday, South Korea and the United States fired five ballistic missiles – one of which crashed after launch – at fictitious targets in the Sea of Japan. And the day before, the air forces of the two countries had conducted shooting exercises in the Yellow Sea.
The Security Council meeting was supported by France, the United Kingdom, Albania, Norway and Ireland.
US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield denounced “a clear effort by China and Russia to reward (North Korea) for its bad actions”, and called for a strengthening of sanctions against Pyongyang.
In May, Beijing and Moscow vetoed a Security Council resolution imposing new sanctions on North Korea, after the body unanimously adopted heavy sanctions in 2017.
According to analysts, the regime of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is seizing the opportunity of the deadlock at the UN to push its weapons tests ever further.
Seoul and Washington expect North Korea to resume its nuclear tests, which have been interrupted since 2017, probably after the Chinese Communist Party congress which begins on October 16.
“At this point, for Kim to back down and stop the provocations would seem counterproductive to his interests. Not to mention the amount of resources wasted conducting these weapons tests,” Soo Kim, an analyst at the RAND Corporation, told AFP.
“We are definitely in a cycle of armed provocation,” she said.