North Korea said on Friday it fired an intercontinental ballistic missile to “sow fear among enemies”, as South Korea and Japan agreed at a summit to work closely with the United States on regional security and to organize military exercises in the region.
The missile was launched on Thursday morning hours before South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol was due to meet Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at a summit aimed in part at restoring security ties between US allies in the face of nuclear threats north -Korean.
With four missile presentations in about a week, North Korea has stepped up its tit-for-tat response to the ongoing U.S.-South Korean military drills that are the largest of their kind in years.
The Biden administration wants better relations between South Korea and Japan, which have waned over historic issues in recent years, as it pushes to strengthen its web of alliances in Asia to counter the North Korean nuclear threat and the growing influence of China.
In addition to their combined drills which started on Monday and continued through March 23, the United States and South Korea are also taking part in anti-submarine warfare drills, along with Japan, Canada and India. , which began on Wednesday.
North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said leader Kim Jong Un oversaw the test-firing of the Hwasong-17 missile and stressed the need to “sow fear among enemies” over it. which he called the “open hostility” shown to the North by the US-South Korea exercises.
Launched at a high angle to avoid the territory of neighboring North Korea, the missile reached a maximum altitude of 6,045 kilometers (3,756 miles) and traveled 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) before landing in the waters off the country’s east coast, KCNA said.
The South Korean and Japanese militaries rated the flight similarly, indicating that the American mainland is within range of the missile. It remains unclear whether North Korea has developed nuclear bombs small enough to fit on its long-range rockets or the technology to ensure its warheads survive atmospheric re-entry when fired on a normal trajectory.
North Korea’s official Rodong Sinmun newspaper published photos of Kim watching the missile take off from a launch vehicle parked on an airport runway from afar.
Kim was accompanied by a girl who appeared to be his daughter, who would be called Kim Ju Ae and would be around 10 years old. She has accompanied him to several military events since she was first publicly revealed during another ICBM launch in November. Analysts say the intent of his public appearances at military events is to tie the Kim family’s dynastic rule over North Korea to the nuclear arsenal that Kim sees as the best guarantee of its survival.
Rodong Sinmun also posted photos believed to have been taken by a camera on the missile as it blasted off into space. They showed a rounded view of Earth, with scattered clouds over what appeared to be the Korean Peninsula and the Asian coast.
The photos were apparently meant to prove the missile would be able to accurately hit its target, said Cheong Seong-Chang, a senior analyst at South Korea’s private Sejong Institute.
While all of North Korea’s ICBM tests have been conducted at a high angle, Cheong said the North is likely getting closer to launching one of these missiles at an angle closer to the normal ballistic trajectory through the Pacific Ocean, in what would be one of its most provocative weapon displays ever.
KCNA said the ICBM launch sends a “stronger warning” to North Korea’s rivals who are escalating tensions with their “frenzied, provocative and aggressive large-scale war exercises”. The test was also designed to confirm the reliability of the weapons system, KCNA said.
Kim said it was crucial for North Korea’s nuclear missile forces to remain ready to counterattack their rivals with “overwhelming offensive measures at all times” and make them realize that their persistent and extensive military actions “will bring them a grave and irreversible threat,” KCNA said.
Lee Hyojung, spokesperson for South Korea’s Unification Ministry, which handles inter-Korean affairs, said it was deeply regrettable that the North continued to use the US-South Korea military exercises as an excuse to hold provocative military demonstrations.
“It is clear that North Korea’s reckless nuclear and missile development is the cause of escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula,” she said, urging Pyongyang to resume dialogue.
Speaking at a conference in Singapore on Thursday, the head of the US Indo-Pacific Command, Admiral John Aquilino, said China has a role to play in the world if it adheres to the peace-based order. rules, especially with regard to North Korea, which depends on Beijing. as its main ally and economic lifeline.
North Korea’s accelerated weapons development, underscored by the dozens of missiles it tested last year, poses a growing threat to South Korea and Japan and the country has also “developed the capabilities to threaten also the United States,” Aquilino said. .
“It’s destabilizing, it’s unpredictable, it continues, it doesn’t slow down. The ability of the People’s Republic of China to help deter the DPRK from carrying out these events would be helpful,” Aquilino said, using the initials of North Korea’s official name.
North Korea has long described regular U.S.-South Korean military drills as rehearsals for a possible invasion, though allies describe the drills as defensive.
Many experts say North Korea is using its rivals’ drills as a pretext to aggressively expand its nuclear arsenal and overall military capability. They said he was seeking to force the United States to accept the North’s status as a nuclear power and to negotiate an end to sanctions against it from a position of strength.
Since last week, North Korea has also been testing cruise missiles from a submarine and firing short-range missiles into the sea, trying to show it could carry out potential nuclear strikes on South Korean targets and on the American mainland.
Thursday’s launch was North Korea’s second ICBM this year. The Hwasong-15 launched in February is a slightly smaller weapon than the Hwasong-17.
At the summit between Yoon and Kishida, the leaders agreed to resume defense dialogue and further strengthen security cooperation with the United States to counter North Korea and other regional challenges.
“The ever-growing threat from North Korea’s nuclear missile program poses a huge threat to peace and stability not only in East Asia but also to the (wider) international community,” Yoon said. “South Korea and Japan should work closely and in solidarity to wisely counter the threat.”