NK missile launch dims dialogue outlook
North Korea test-fired another ballistic missile Monday, defying the Moon Jae-in government’s call for the resumption of dialogue and humanitarian aid.
The missile, presumed to be a Scud, flew about 450 kilometers eastward from a site in Wonsan, Gangwon Province, at 5:39 a.m., according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).
This was the North’s third missile launch since Moon took office May 10, and the ninth this year.
Moon ordered a National Security Council meeting, which was presided over by National Security Office head Chung Eui-yong.
Tokyo also confirmed and denounced the missile test, saying it fell into Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ). The U.S. Pacific Command said the ballistic missile flew for about six minutes before landing in the East Sea.
North Korea’s Scud missiles are known to have a range of 300 to 500 kilometers, mainly targeting South Korea. Pyongyang has been developing a variant of the Scud as well as intermediate-range ballistic missiles and intercontinental ballistic missiles.
The missile tests are embarrassing South Korea’s liberal President who has taken a softened stance toward the North compared to his predecessors Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye.
Unlike Lee and Park who focused on sanctions, Moon has stressed the need for both pressure and dialogue.
With the North’s latest provocation, his soft-line stance may not get support from the international community, and may further isolate the nation in globally-made decisions on pressure and sanctions.
On Friday, the Ministry of Unification approved a civic group’s request for contact with North Koreans for humanitarian aid, the first approval since Seoul suspended all exchanges after Pyongyang’s fourth nuclear test in January last year.
Despite the missile test, the ministry reiterated its stance Monday, saying it would keep approving humanitarian groups’ requests for contact.
“As we have already said, South Korea will take a stern attitude toward North Korea’s missile program, but this will not affect the government’s basic position to be flexible on private sector exchanges to recover inter-Korea relations,” a ministry official said.
Moon has sought consent and cooperation in his North Korea policy from major countries surrounding the Korean Peninsula by sending special envoys to the nations. The heads of the countries agreed in prin- ciple, but the continuous missile launches may change their positions.
While Moon and U.S. President Donald Trump will discuss the North Korea issue during their summit slated for late June, the U.S. State Department reaffirmed last week that it was not ruling out the military option in dealing with Pyongyang. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida had a phone call Monday to agree on strengthening pressure on the North.
The leaders of the G7 also said in a statement Saturday that they are ready to apply additional pressure to contain North Korea’s nuclear and missile tests.
“The series of missile launches may be the North’s attempt to test Moon’s North Korea policy,” said Jang Cheol-un, a professor at the Institute for Far Eastern Studies. “Keeping firing missiles despite the new government’s beginning in the South, North Korea may try to exclude the South from nuclear negotiations in the future.”