North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles towards its eastern coast towards Japan in response to Pyongyang’s latest missile tests, following joint US-South Korean missile drills and the return of a US aircraft carrier to the region. .
It was the sixth launch in 12 days and the first since North Korea fired an intermediate-range ballistic missile over Japan on Tuesday.
The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Japanese government confirmed the launch.
This is completely unacceptable, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters.
The launch came about an hour after North Korea condemned what the United States told the UN Security Council over “retaliatory actions by the Korean People’s Army to joint exercises between the United States and South Korea.”
In a statement issued by North Korea’s foreign ministry, Pyongyang also condemned Washington for redeploying a US aircraft carrier, nicknamed the “American monster”, in the waters off the coast of the Korean peninsula, saying it posed a serious and higher threat to The situation is stable. .
The aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan and its battle group were suddenly deployed east of North Korea after South Korea and the United States conducted rare missile exercises. This is in response to North Korea’s ballistic missile launch over Japan this week.
The United States accused China and Russia on Wednesday of allowing North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to avoid efforts to tighten sanctions against Pyongyang at the Security Council over its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs.
Japan’s Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada was quoted by Reuters as saying Tokyo had made a “strong objection” to North Korea through representatives in Beijing.
He added: “The first missile most likely flew at an altitude of about 100 km and traveled a distance of 350 km, while the second missile flew at an estimated altitude of 50 km and traveled a distance of 800 km, and most likely had an irregular path.” undertook
He told reporters: North Korea has continuously and unilaterally intensified its provocations, especially since the beginning of this year.
The Chief of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the South Korean Army announced that these two missiles were launched from an area near Pyongyang, the capital of this country.
Analysts say North Korea’s series of missile tests will help further operationalize the country’s weapons, develop new capabilities and send a message that development is a sovereign right.
North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs are prohibited under UN Security Council resolutions that have imposed sanctions on Pyongyang.
Kim Dong-yub, a former South Korean naval officer, believes that preliminary details of the flight indicate that the missile may have been the Hwasong-12 intermediate-range ballistic missile, which North Korea revealed in 2017 as part of its threats. did to attack US military bases in Guam.
Ankit Panda of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace believes that launching a missile over a long distance would allow North Korean scientists to test the missiles in more realistic conditions.
Source: Lebanon Debate
