Latest missile may be testing rivals
Launch could be less about tech than foes
SEOUL: North Korea’s latest missile test may have less to do with perfecting its weapons technology than with showing US and South Korean forces in the region that it can strike them at will.
South Korean and Japanese officials said the suspected Scud-type short-range missile flew about 450km before landing in Japan’s maritime economic zone yesterday, setting off the usual round of condemnation from Washington and the North’s neighbours.
It’s the latest in a string of test launches as the North seeks to build nuclear-tipped ICBMs that can reach the US mainland, a drive that puts North Korea high on the list of foreign policy worries for Japan, Washington and Seoul.
North Korea, however, already has a strong arsenal of reliable short-range missiles. It doesn’t usually need to test more to improve its technology, as it does with its less dependable, longer range missiles.
This sets up the potential that Pyongyang is looking to use the test to show it can hit US targets near and far and to emphasise its defiance of US-led pressure on its missile and nuclear programmes, which has included vague threats from President Donald Trump and the arrival in Korean waters of powerful US military hardware. Scuds are capable of striking US troops in South Korea, for instance, and the two newly developed missiles tested earlier this month have potential ranges that include Japan, Guam and even, according to some South Korean analysts, Alaska.
The missile was 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.
North Korea is still thought to be several years from its goal of being able to
target US mainland cities with a nuclear ICBMs. It has a strong arsenal of short- and medium-range missiles and is working to perfect its longer-range missiles.
South Korea says North Korea has conducted nine ballistic missile tests this year, but Seoul counts four launches of what’s believed to be the same kind of missile that were done on the same day as a single launch.
North Korea’s state-controlled media had no immediate comment. But on
Sunday, the North said leader Kim Jong-un had watched a separate, successful test of a new type of anti-aircraft guided weapon system. The report didn’t say when the test happened.
The official Korean Central News Agency cited Mr 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”.
In Washington, Mr Trump has
alternated between bellicosity and flattery in his public statements about North Korea, but his administration is still working to solidify a policy to handle its nuclear ambitions.
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 it’s unclear if he’ll be able to push anytime soon for major
rapprochement because Pyongyang continues to make serious advances in its nuclear and missile programme.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters “North Korea’s provocation by ignoring repeated warnings from the international society is absolutely unacceptable”.
Mr Suga said Japanese officials would discuss North Korea with a senior foreign policy adviser to Chinese President Xi Jinping, Yang Jiechi, in Japan yesterday.