The Star Malaysia

N. Korea fires ballistic missile

Short-range weapon lands in Japan’s maritime zone

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SEOUL: North Korea fired a shortrange ballistic missile that landed in Japan’s maritime economic zone, officials said, the latest in a string of test launches as the North seeks to build nuclear-tipped ICBMs that can reach the US mainland.

This launch of a suspected Scud-type missile, which the South Korean military said flew about 450km, may also be an attempt to demonstrat­e North Korea’s ability to strike US and South Korean troops in the region.

The missile launched from the coastal town of Wonsan, the South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.

It landed in Japan’s exclusive maritime economic zone, which is set about 200 nautical miles off the Japanese coast, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said. He said there was no report of damage in the area.

Because yesterday’s test – the North’s ninth ballistic missile launch this year – was apparently of a short-range variety of which Pyongyang has a surplus of reliable missiles, it may have been meant more as a political and military message to outsiders than as a crucial test of not-yet-perfected technology.

The content of that message is open to interpreta­tion, but some see a resolve to ignore US-led pressure, which has included vague threats from President Donald Trump and the arrival in Korean waters of powerful US military hardware, while also showing that the North can hit US targets near and far.

Scuds are capable of striking at American troops in South Korea, for instance, and two newly developed missiles tested earlier this month have potential ranges that include Japan, Guam and even, according to some South Korean analysts, Alaska.

North Korea is still thought to be several years from its goal of being able to target US mainland cities with a nuclear interconti­nental ballistic missile. It has a strong arsenal of short- and medium-range missiles and is working to perfect its longer-range missiles.

North Korea’s state-controlled media had no immediate comment. But a day earlier, the North said leader Kim Jong-un had watched a separate, successful test of a new type of anti-aircraft guided weapon system.

It wasn’t clear from the state media report when the test happened.

The official Korean Central News Agency cited Kim as ordering officials to mass-produce and deploy the system all over the country so as to “completely spoil the enemy’s wild dream to command the air”.

The North’s nuclear and missile programmes are perhaps the biggest foreign policy challenges to the new leaders in Washington and Seoul.

Yesterday’s launch was the third ballistic missile launch by North Korea since South Korean President Moon Jae-in was inaugurate­d on May 10.

He has signalled an interest in expanding civilian exchange with North Korea, but many analysts say he won’t likely push for any major rapprochem­ent because North Korea has gone too far in developing its nuclear programme.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said that “North Korea’s provocatio­n by ignoring repeated warnings from the internatio­nal commu-

Shinzo Abe

nity is absolutely unacceptab­le”.

Suga, the Japanese cabinet secretary, said the missile fell about 300km north of the Oki islands in south-western Japan and 500km west of Sado island in central Japan. — AP

Provocatio­n by ignoring repeated warnings from the internatio­nal community is absolutely unacceptab­le.

 ?? — AFP ?? Ignition and launch: A combo of undated pictures showing the test of a new missile system at an undisclose­d location in North Korea.
— AFP Ignition and launch: A combo of undated pictures showing the test of a new missile system at an undisclose­d location in North Korea.

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