North Korea confirmed on Sunday that it fired an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) the day before as a warning to Washington and Seoul, saying the successful “surprise” exercise demonstrates its “lethal nuclear counterattack” capabilities.
In response, the South Korean military said on Sunday it had organized joint aerial maneuvers with the United States, mobilizing stealth aircraft and at least one American B-1B long-range bomber.
“Exercise has [permis de] demonstrate the timely and immediate deployment of U.S. extended deterrence assets on the Korean Peninsula,” testifying to the “overwhelming strength” of the allies, the South Korean Defense Ministry said in a statement.
Japan also conducted a joint military exercise with the United States on Sunday, the Japanese defense ministry said.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ordered a surprise “launch drill” at 8 a.m. local time on Saturday. A Hwasong-15 missile was then fired from Pyongyang airport during the afternoon, according to the state agency KCNA. The first test of a Hwasong-15 was conducted by Pyongyang in 2017.
Seoul claimed to have detected the launch of an ICBM on Saturday at 5:22 p.m. local time which Tokyo said flew for 66 minutes before falling into its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and which, according to its observations, would be able to strike the American mainland. .
Pyongyang hailed the trial – the country’s first in seven weeks – which it said demonstrates “the ability [de combat] effective ICBM units, capable [d’effectuer] a mobile and powerful counterattack,” KCNA reported.
The launch is “clear evidence” of the reliability of Pyongyang’s “powerful physical nuclear deterrent”, the agency added.
He came as Seoul and Washington prepare to conduct a simulation exercise, to be held next week in the US capital, to discuss what to do if Pyongyang uses nuclear weapons. .
North Korea threatened on Friday to react with “unprecedented” force to the upcoming US-South Korean maneuvers, seeing them as preparations for an armed conflict and the cause of a deterioration of the security situation on the Korean peninsula. .
New step
According to US-based security expert Ankit Panda, Saturday’s shooting is of considerable significance because it “was ordered the same day, so it’s not a traditional ‘trial’, but a ‘an exercise “.
“We should expect to see additional exercises of this type,” he told AFP.
Park Won-gon, a professor at Ewha University, said this is the first time Pyongyang has provided a detailed account from firing order to launch.
“The clear indication of Kim Jong-un’s order is significant,” he said. This test “shows that these weapons are all deployed for real combat and ready to be launched at any time. »
For Soo Kim, a former CIA analyst, the nine hours that elapsed between the leader’s order and the shooting constituted “a long period”. According to her, Pyongyang could face “greater challenges” if it carried out a launch under “realistic” conditions.
Relations between Pyongyang and Seoul are already at their lowest level in years. In 2022, the North called its status as a nuclear power “irreversible” and Kim Jong-un called for an “exponential” growth in the production of armaments, including tactical nuclear weapons.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has, in response, sought to strengthen cooperation with the United States, its key security ally, pledging to increase joint military exercises and improve the expanded offer. of Washington in terms of deterrence, in particular by nuclear means.
On Sunday, Pyongyang’s spokeswoman and sister of its leader, Kim Yo Jong, said it was these measures taken by Seoul and Washington that “are putting the peninsula in danger at every moment” and deteriorating its “stability”, according to KCNA. .
“I warn that we will monitor every movement of the enemy and engage the corresponding, very powerful and overwhelming countermeasure against all such movements hostile towards us,” she added.
Food shortages?
This shooting as well as these declarations of Pyongyang seem to announce “the beginning of high intensity provocations on the part of North Korea”, estimates for AFP Park Won-gon, professor at the university Ewha.
“What’s different from 2022 is that last year their rationale was that the launches were part of their five-year military plan,” he describes, adding, “Now they are making it clear that they [feront face] in the United States and South Korea. »
Park said Pyongyang’s heightened aggressiveness could point to a worsening domestic situation. South Korean officials recently signaled that the country could face severe food shortages after several years of self-imposed pandemic isolation.
“North Korea always takes an intransigent approach and creates external crises […] to overcome its internal difficulties. Uniting the population by insisting on the American-South Korean threat is a classic North Korean attitude. »