North Korea on Thursday (October 6th) launched two new ballistic missiles and called the weapons tests a “fair retaliation measures” against Washington and Seoul and their military exercises in the region. According to the South Korean army, these short-range projectiles were launched Thursday morning from around Pyongyang towards the Sea of Japan. The Japanese coast guard confirmed having detected these projectiles. This sixth launch in less than two weeks is “absolutely unacceptable”Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida immediately reacted.
The new firings came as the UN Security Council met in New York to discuss the launch of another North Korean missile that had flown over Japan two days earlier. On Tuesday, a Hwasong-12-type missile flew over Japan and traveled about 4,600 km, probably the longest distance Pyongyang has ever reached in its tests, according to Seoul and Washington. It was the first time in five years that a North Korean projectile passed over Japanese territory.
North Korea, which in September adopted a new doctrine making “irreversible” its status as a nuclear power, this year stepped up its firing and launched an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) for the first time since 2017. These firings constitute “Korean People’s Army’s just retaliation against the joint military maneuvers between South Korea and the United States that are causing an escalation of military tensions on the Korean Peninsula”, the North Korean ministry said in a statement on Thursday. Following Tuesday’s launch, Washington called for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council. But China, an ally and economic partner of North Korea, also blamed the United States.
Beijing against Washington
Missile tests by Pyongyang are ” closely linked “ US-South Korean military exercises, Chinese Deputy Ambassador to the United Nations Geng Shuang told the Council. He accused Washington of“poison the regional security environment”.
Seoul, Tokyo and Washington have stepped up joint military maneuvers in recent weeks, including anti-submarine warfare drills and large-scale naval maneuvers. On Wednesday, South Korea and the United States fired five ballistic missiles, one of which crashed after launch, at fictitious targets in the Sea of Japan. And the day before, the air forces of the two countries had conducted shooting exercises in the Yellow Sea.
Seoul also announced the return to the region of the American nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, which carried out exercises with the South Korean navy in September. The Security Council meeting was supported by France, the United Kingdom, Albania, Norway and Ireland.
“We are definitely in a cycle of armed provocation”
US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield denounced “a clear effort by China and Russia to reward [la Corée du Nord] for his evil deeds”and called for tougher sanctions against Pyongyang.
In May, Beijing and Moscow vetoed a Security Council resolution imposing new sanctions on North Korea, after the body unanimously adopted heavy sanctions in 2017. Analysts say the regime of the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un seizes the opportunity of the deadlock at the UN to push his weapons tests ever further.
Seoul and Washington expect North Korea to resume its nuclear tests, which have been interrupted since 2017, probably after the Chinese Communist Party congress which begins on October 16.
“At this point, for Kim, to back down and stop the provocations would seem counterproductive to his interests. Not to mention the amount of resources wasted conducting these weapons tests”explained to Agence France-Presse Soo Kim, an analyst at the RAND Corporation. “We are definitely in a cycle of armed provocation”she said.