Pyongyang fired an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on Thursday (March 16) towards the Sea of Japan, Seoul announced, a few hours before the arrival in Tokyo of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol.
“Our army detected a long-range ballistic missile fired from Sunan area in Pyongyang”said the joint staff to Agence France-Presse (AFP), specifying that it was an ICBM.
At a meeting of the National Security Council, Yoon called for strengthening trilateral cooperation with Japan and the United States, adding that “North Korea will pay a fair price for these reckless provocations”his office said in a statement.
Tokyo said the missile reached a maximum altitude of more than 6,000 kilometers. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced to the press that he would meet the ministers of the National Security Council. “Peace and stability in the region are very important issues for the countries concerned”underlined Mr. Kishida.
First summit in twelve years
The launch came hours before the leaders of South Korea and Japan are due to meet in Tokyo, with Pyongyang’s nuclear and ballistic programs expected to be at the center of their discussions. This summit is the first in twelve years between the two neighboring powers, which seek to repair ties long damaged by the atrocities committed by Japan during its 35 years of colonial domination over Korea (1910-1945).
The two countries are currently increasing their defense spending and regularly hold joint military exercises, which Yoon said is essential for regional and global stability. “South Korea and Japan increasingly need to cooperate in this time of ‘polycrisis’ where North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats are intensifying”South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said on Wednesday in an interview with several media, including AFP.
It is Pyongyang’s third show of force since Sunday, when South Korea and the United States hold their biggest joint military drills in five years this week.
“Justify his hostile activities”
North Korea scheduled the launch on the day of the summit to get a “double effect”, namely a warning to its neighbors and a protest against the joint exercises between the United States and South Korea, according to experts. In early March, leader Kim Jong Un ordered his army to step up military maneuvers for a “real war”.
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“For a North Korea that is constantly looking for excuses to justify its hostile activities and weapons development, now is the perfect time for Kim to deploy its missiles.”noted Soo Kim, a former CIA analyst in Korea, who now works at the management consulting firm LMI.
Leif Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul, felt that with this essay, Kim Jong Un wanted on the one hand “threaten Tokyo”who wishes “deepen trilateral cooperation with Washington and Seoul”And on the other hand “dissuade South Korea from conducting further defense exercises with the United States”. Washington and Seoul have strengthened their defense cooperation in the face of growing military and nuclear threats from Pyongyang, which has increased weapons tests in recent months.
“Rehearsals”
North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles on Tuesday and two strategic cruise missiles from a submarine on Sunday, hours before the start of US-South Korea drills. baptized “Freedom Shield”, these exercises began on Monday and are to last ten days. They focus on “the evolution of the security environment” due to the redoubled aggressiveness of North Korea, the allies said.
North Korea regards these exercises as rehearsals for an invasion and regularly promises action “overwhelming” in response. Thursday’s test “may be a normal angle ICBM launch rehearsal or a verification of the North’s preparations for the launch of a reconnaissance satellite”Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, told AFP.
North Korea has never fired its most powerful missiles on a normal trajectory, and experts doubt they have the technology to survive re-entry. Pyongyang, which declared itself a nuclear power last year “irreversible”previously announced that the launch of a military reconnaissance satellite was one of its priorities.