SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – North Korea fired a ballistic missile into its eastern waters on Wednesday, South Korean and Japanese officials said days after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un promised to speed up the development of its nuclear weapons “as fast as possible” and threatened to use them against rivals.
The launch, the North’s 14th round of gunfire this year, also came six days before a new conservative South Korean president takes office for a single five-year term.
The Joint Committee of the Chiefs of Staff of South Korea said in a statement that the missile was fired from the region of the northern capital and flew to the waters off its east coast. He called North Korea’s repeated ballistic missile launches a “serious threat” that would undermine international peace and security and violate UN Security Council resolutions banning all ballistic launches from the North.
The statement said Won In-Choul, South Korea’s JCS chief, had held a video conference on the shooting with General Paul LaCamera, a U.S. general who commands the South Korean-US Joint Forces Command in Seoul, and they agreed to maintain a solid protective stand of the joints.
Japan also discovered the North Korean launch and quickly condemned it.
“The series of North Korean actions that threaten the peace, security and stability of the international community are unacceptable,” Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters during a visit to Rome.
Kishida said he would discuss the launch when he meets with Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi later Wednesday. “Naturally, we will exchange views on the regional situation in the Indo-Pacific region and East Asia, and I will explain in detail the reality of the region, including the North Korean missile launch today, to gain an understanding of the emergency situation in East Asia,” he said.
Japan’s Deputy Defense Minister Makoto Oniki said the missile was believed to have landed in waters outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone. There were no reports of damage or injury to vessels or aircraft in the area.
It was not immediately clear what missile North Korea fired. The South Korean military said the rocket flew about 470 kilometers (290 miles) at the peak of 780 kilometers (485 miles), while Oniki of Japan said it had flown about 500 kilometers (310 miles) at a maximum altitude of 800 kilometers. 500 miles). .
Observers say North Korea’s unusually rapid arms test this year underscores its dual goal of improving its missile programs and putting pressure on Washington over a deepening freeze on nuclear talks. They say Kim ultimately aims to use his expanded arsenal to win international recognition of North Korea as a nuclear power, which he says will help force the United States to ease international economic sanctions against the North.
One of the recently tested North Korean missiles was an intercontinental ballistic missile, potentially capable of reaching the entire American homeland. The launch of this missile violated Kim’s self-imposed moratorium of 2018 on major weapons tests.
There are indications that the North is also preparing for a nuclear test at its remote northeastern test facility. If done, the test explosion of a North Korean nuclear bomb will be the seventh of its kind and the first of 2017.
Last week, Kim Jong Un unveiled its most powerful nuclear-capable missiles aimed at both the United States and its allies during a massive military parade in the capital, Pyongyang. Speaking at the parade, Kim said he would develop his arsenal “as fast as possible” and warned that the North would use its nuclear weapons preventively if its national interests were threatened.
North Korea has previously issued harsh rhetoric, threatening to attack its rivals with its nuclear weapons. But the fact that Kim is making the threat alone and in detail has sparked security shocks among some South Koreans. Taken together with North Korea’s recent tests of short-range nuclear missiles, some experts speculate that North Korea’s possible escalating nuclear doctrine will allow it to strike pre-emptive nuclear strikes on South Korea in some cases.
Wednesday’s launch comes ahead of the inauguration of South Korean President-elect Yun Suk Yel on May 10, who has vowed to boost Seoul’s missile capabilities and strengthen its military alliance with Washington to better deal with growing nuclear threats. North Korea.
North Korea has a history of rising hostilities with arms tests as Seoul and Washington form new governments in an apparent attempt to increase their influence in future talks.
Yun’s transition office called North Korea’s latest launch a “serious provocation” and called on Pyongyang to halt actions that increase tensions and threaten international peace. A statement said the Yun government would respond strongly to North Korean provocations in close co-operation with the international community.
Some experts say Biden’s administration’s passive handling of North Korea, as it focuses on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and growing rivalry with China, gives the North more room to expand its military capabilities.
The Biden administration’s actions against North Korea have so far been limited to largely symbolic sanctions and proposals for open negotiations. North Korea has rejected the administration’s offer to negotiate, saying it must first abandon its “hostile policy” in clear reference to US-led international sanctions and joint US-South Korean military exercises.
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Marie Yamaguchi reported from Tokyo.
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