Allies differ over Kim’s latest missile tests
SEOUL North Korea fired several rockets into the sea yesterday in the continuation of its rapid nuclear and missile expansion, but the United States and South Korea appeared to offer different readings of the success of the launches.
The US Pacific Command said three North Korean short-range missiles failed – two after flying an unspecified distance, and another seemingly blowing up almost immediately.
South Korea’s presidential office said North Korea presumably tested its 300-millimetre artillery rocket system. The county’s military did not mention any failures. It said the projectiles, fired from the North’s eastern coast, flew about 250 kilometres.
The presidential office in Seoul said the US and South Korean militaries would proceed with their ongoing war games ‘‘even more thoroughly’’ in response to the launch.
They are the first known missile firings since July, when the North successfully tested a pair of intercontinental ballistic missiles that analysts say could reach deep into the US mainland when perfected.
The White House said US President Donald Trump – who has threatened to unleash ‘‘fire and fury’’ if the North continues its threats – had been briefed about the launches and ‘‘we are monitoring the situation’’.
Yesterday’s launch came during an annual joint military exercise between the US and South Korea that the North condemns as an invasion rehearsal, and weeks after Pyongyang threatened to lob REUTERS missiles toward the US Pacific territory of Guam.
Some experts say North Korea is now mainly focused on the bigger picture of testing its bargaining power against the US with its new long-range missiles, and probably has no interest in letting things get too tense during the drills. They say the North may limit its reactions to low-level provocations like artillery and short-range missile launches.
Kim Dong-yub, a former South Korean military official who is now an analyst at Seoul’s Institute for Far Eastern Studies, said the North could have been experimenting with developmental technologies or could have deliberately detonated the warheads at certain heights and locations.
North Korea’s state media said earlier leader Kim Jong-un had inspected a special operation forces training exercise by the country’s army that simulated attacks on South Korean islands along the countries’ western sea border, in what appeared to be in response to the ongoing US-South Korea war games.
Kim reportedly told his troops that they ‘‘should think of mercilessly wiping out the enemy with arms only and occupying Seoul at one go and the southern half of Korea’’.
The border islands have occasionally seen military skirmishes between the rivals, including a North Korean artillery barrage on Yeonpyeong in 2010 that left two South Korean marines and two civilians dead. AP