The launch of a North Korean missile, with the longest range ever seen for a Pyongyang-type device, prompted responses from regional rivals of the dictatorship on Tuesday (4), after raising alarm in Tokyo.
A series of joint military maneuvers and tests involved South Korea, Japan and the United States, with fighter jets flying over the Yellow Sea, hitting defined targets, and the Sea of ​​Japan.
Washington and Seoul also launched four land-to-land missiles towards the sea — one of them failed, causing no damage — and a South Korean Air Force jet dropped bombs on a target on the country’s west coast. The move was defined as a demonstration of the ability to attack North Korean provocations.
US President Joe Biden reinforced the US’ “firm commitment” to defending Tokyo in a phone call with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, according to the White House. The call came hours after Japan reported the launch of a ballistic missile from North Korea, which would have flown over its territory before falling into Pacific waters, 3,000 km from the coast.
The artifact, according to preliminary analyses, would be a Hwasong-12, a model already used in other tests of the dictatorship, and would have been launched from Jagang province. It crossed Japanese territory at 7:22 am local time, traveling 4,600 km at an altitude of 1,000 km — the longest distance ever recorded for a North Korean projectile and greater than that between Pyongyang and Guam, US territory in the Pacific.
Regional and Western leaders condemned Kim Jong-un’s test, with UN Secretary-General António Guterres saying the episode violated Security Council resolutions. According to the White House, allies will work closely with South Korea to coordinate an immediate and long-term response against Pyongyang.
“[Biden e Kishida] have decided to maintain all efforts to limit North Korea’s ability to support its illegal ballistic missile and weapons of mass destruction programs,” the Washington document said, which called the test a threat to regional stability.
The Japanese Defense Ministry, which added that it had taken no action to shoot down the projectile, said it did not rule out any options, including counterattack actions. South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol called Pyongyang’s move reckless and barbaric.
Washington has convened a meeting of the United Nations Security Council for this Wednesday (5), with the support of other members of the collegiate — the United Kingdom, France, Albania, Norway and Ireland. China and Russia, however, who have veto power, said they were opposed to the meeting, arguing that the group’s reaction should be aimed at easing tension on the Korean peninsula.
It was unclear whether the council would meet publicly or behind closed doors, but diplomats see any significant action by the body as unlikely.
Due to Tuesday’s launch, for the first time since 2017 Tokyo has issued an alert asking part of the population to seek shelter. “Please go inside a building or basement,” was the warning broadcast on TV in the Hokkaido and Aomori regions. The government also stopped train service in some areas in the north of the country.
North Korea is banned from carrying out nuclear tests and ballistic missile launches by the UN Security Council, which has tightened sanctions against Pyongyang to try to cut funding for these programs – which has not deterred the dictatorship, to the point of speculation. for Kim to prepare a nuclear test for the next few weeks.
The exercise would be the 7th of its kind in the country; the last took place in 2017, a year before the dictator signed a vague declaration that called for the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.
Seoul Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup told parliament it was unclear what type of device would be used — a smaller one, for operational use, or a larger one, with more power than in previous tests. Lawmakers quoted intelligence officials as saying the exercise could take place between the Chinese Communist Party Congress this month and the US midterm elections in November.
This year alone, Pyongyang has launched at least 23 ballistic missiles. Tuesday’s projectile was the fifth in recent days. The series kicked off amid US Vice President Kamala Harris’ visit to South Korea last week.
At the time, the American was in the demilitarized zone that divides the two Koreas — 240 kilometers long, the area was established in the 1950s — and called North Korea “a country with a brutal dictatorship, with an illegal program of weapons and human rights violations”.
In late September, Washington deployed an aircraft carrier off the South Korean coast for the first time since 2018.
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