Japan, South Korea brace for North Korea missile test
TOKYO — North Korea’s neighbors are steeling themselves for likely more provocative action from Kim Jong Un’s regime, with Japan’s prime minister raising the prospect of a chemical weapons attack and South Korea’s military saying it was ready to “mercilessly retaliate.”
Expectations remain high that North Korea will conduct another nuclear or missile test, or some other incendiary act, to mark the most important day on the North Korean calendar: Saturday’s anniversary of the birthday of its founder, and the current leader’s grandfather, Kim Il Sung.
But the latest worries such as the possibility of a chemical arsenal — which is widely suspected — reflect a deepening anxiety in the region amid the North’s military bluster and tough talk from President Donald Trump that the United States would increase pressure on Pyongyang.
Japan’s prime minister, Shinzo Abe, said Thursday he was worried that North Korea could also be developing its chemical weapons capability, with Japan as its target.
“It’s possible that North Korea might already have the ability to deliver sarin warheads on missiles,” Abe told a parliamentary committee.
The prospect of a sarin attack is particularly sensitive in Japan, where the members of a doomsday cult used the gas on the Tokyo subway in 1995, killing 12 people.
Concerns have been growing about North Korea’s chemical weapons abilities since Kim Jong Un’s estranged half brother, Kim Jong Nam, was killed with a nerve agent, VX, in Malaysia in February.
“North Korea is thought to maintain multiple facilities that are capable of producing chemical weapons and already hold a sizable amount of chemical weapons,” Yoshihide Suga, Abe’s top aide, told reporters after a meeting of Japan’s national security council.
In South Korea, the new commander of the Marine Corps, Lt. Gen. Jun Jin-goo, called on his 30,000 troops to be ready to “mercilessly retaliate” against any North Korean provocations, according to Yonhap news agency.
But Kim Jong Un looked relaxed Thursday, appearing at the opening ceremony for one of his marquee projects: the Ryomyong Street development in Pyongyang.
The district, with its high-rises and fancy stores, has become a symbol of North Korea’s purported economic development and improved standard of living under Kim.
The most recent satellite images of North Korea’s underground nuclear test site, at Punggye-ri in the northeast of the country, shows it is “primed and ready,” according to the 38 North website, which follows North Korean affairs.
People and vehicles continue to be moving around the site, according to images from Wednesday, the report said.
There have been varying amounts of movement, including removing rubble and draining water, over the past two weeks, raising fears that North Korea might be preparing for a sixth nuclear test.
North Korea has also been firing missiles at a steady clip, and from mobile launchers that are rolled out of tunnels or hangars immediately before launch and are therefore difficult to spot by satellite.
In 2012, two days before the 100th anniversary of Kim Il Sung’s birthday, North Korea attempted to launch a long-range missile, but it broke up soon after launch.
But there were similarly high expectations around a big anniversary in October last year, and North Korea did nothing.
Doing something provocative in the next few days would send a message to Vice President Mike Pence, who is due to arrive in Seoul on Sunday.
Pence, who will also travel to Tokyo, is expected to reiterate Trump’s tough messages to North Korea, which have been backed up by sending a Navy strike group off the Korean Peninsula.
Politicians in Japan and South Korea, both U.S. allies, have voiced concern about becoming retaliatory targets for North Korea.