South simulates attack on test site
SOUTH KOREA: Following US warnings to North Korea of a ‘‘massive military response,’' South Korea yesterday fired missiles into the sea to simulate an attack on the North’s main nuclear test site a day after Pyongyang detonated its largest ever nuclear test explosion.
South Korea’s Defence Ministry also said that North Korea appeared to be planning a future missile launch, possibly of an ICBM, to show off its claimed ability to target the United States with nuclear weapons, though it was unclear when this might happen.
The heated words from the United States and the military manoeuvres in South Korea are becoming familiar responses to North Korea’s rapid, as-yet unchecked pursuit of a viable arsenal of nuclear-tipped missiles that can strike the United States. The most recent, and perhaps most dramatic, advancement came on Sunday in an underground test of what leader Kim Jong Un’s government claimed was a hydrogen bomb, the North’s sixth nuclear test since 2006.
Chang Kyung-soo, an official with South Korea’s Defence Ministry, told lawmakers that Seoul was seeing preparations in the North for an ICBM test, but didn’t provide details. Chang also said the yield from the latest nuclear detonation appeared to be about 50 kilotons, which would mark a significant increase’ from North Korea’s past nuclear tests.
In a series of tweets, President Donald Trump threatened to halt all trade with countries doing business with the North, a veiled warning to China, and faulted South Korea for what he called ‘‘talk of appeasement’'.
South Korea’s military said its live-fire exercise was meant to ‘‘strongly warn’' Pyongyang. The drill involved F-15 fighter jets and the country’s land-based Hyunmoo ballistic missiles firing into the Sea of Japan. The target was set considering the distance to the North’s test site and the exercise was aimed at practising precision strikes and cutting off reinforcements, Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said.
Each new North Korean missile and nuclear test gives Pyongyang’s scientists invaluable information that allows big jumps in capability. North Korea is thought to have a growing arsenal of nuclear bombs and has spent decades trying to perfect a multistage, long-range missile to eventually carry smaller versions of those bombs. Both diplomacy and severe sanctions have failed to check the North’s decades-long march to nuclear mastery.
In Washington, Trump, asked by a reporter if he would attack the North, said: We’ll see.’' No US military action appeared imminent, and the immediate focus appeared to be on ratcheting up economic penalties, which have had little effect thus far.
After a White House meeting with Trump and other national security officials, Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said that America does not seek the ‘‘total annihilation’' of the North, but then added sombrely, ‘‘we have many options to do so.’'
Mattis said the US will answer any threat from the North with a massive military response - a response both effective and ‘‘overwhelming’'. Mattis also said the international community was unified in demanding the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula and that Kim should know Washington’s commitment to Japan and South Korea is unshakeable.
The precise strength of the North’s underground nuclear explosion has yet to be determined. South Korea’s weather agency said the artificial earthquake caused by the explosion was five times to six times stronger than tremors generated by the North’s previous five tests. - AP