North Korea fires short-range missiles into the sea again
Created: 06/10/2022 05:27
By: Stefan Krieger
Pyongyang speaks of retaliation against South Korean and US military exercises.
The situation remains tense.
Update from Thursday, October 6th, 2022, 5:20 a.m .:
North Korea fired ballistic missiles for the sixth time in a few days on Thursday.
The South Korean General Staff said two short-range missiles were fired into the sea off North Korea's east coast.
It appears to have been a different type of rocket than previous launches.
Pyongyang justified the shootings as retaliation for joint South Korean-US military exercises.
The Japanese coast guard also confirmed the launch of two suspected ballistic missiles by North Korea.
According to Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada, the first missile had a range of 350 kilometers and a maximum altitude of 80 kilometers.
The second rocket had a range of 800 kilometers and a height of about 60 kilometers.
An Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) missile is launched during a joint US-South Korea military exercise at an undisclosed location in South Korea.
© dpa
Missiles from North Korea: USA react and send aircraft carriers
Update from Wednesday, October 5th, 2022, 10:00 a.m.:
One day after North Korea's test of a medium-range missile, the USA again want to send an aircraft carrier to the waters east of the Korean peninsula.
The South Korean General Staff announced on Wednesday that the "very unusual" return of the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier
USS Ronald Reagan
is intended to demonstrate the allies' readiness to defend themselves against North Korean provocations.
South Korea is under the US military shield.
The ship most recently arrived in September for its first visit to South Korea in almost four years and participated in naval maneuvers between South Korean and US forces.
North Korean missiles over Japan: US and South Korea fire surface-to-surface missiles
Following North Korea's recent missile test, the US and South Korea have launched multiple missiles into the sea in response.
The South Korean news agency Yonhap reported on Wednesday, citing the South Korean military, that four surface-to-surface missiles were launched into the sea off Korea's east coast.
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The missiles were in response to North Korea launching a ballistic missile over Japan on Tuesday.
The United States and South Korea each fired two Atacms short-range ballistic missiles into the sea "to precisely hit a virtual target," the statement said.
However, one of the South Korean missiles crashed shortly after launch, but there were no casualties, according to the information.
Missiles over Japan: UN Security Council wants to meet soon - international ban
+++ 9.20 p.m .:
After the recent rocket tests, the procedure is criticized internationally.
"I condemn in the strongest possible terms North Korea's dangerous and destabilizing missile tests," NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg tweeted
on Tuesday (October 4)
.
The tests violated a resolution of the UN Security Council, the Norwegian continues.
In this conflict, NATO stands behind Japan and South Korea.
The UN Secretary-General António Guterres recently sharply condemned the rocket launches.
"This is clearly an escalation, something the Secretary-General condemns," spokesman Stephane Dujarric said, according to French news
agency AFP
.
The US is targeting a UN Security Council meeting in the wake of testing an intermediate-range ballistic missile.
Due to the Jewish festival of Yom Kippur, it is still unclear whether the committee will meet directly on Wednesday (October 4), as the
Tagesschau
writes.
North Korea fires missile - Japan calls for evacuation
+++ 5:00 a.m .:
Japan has protested sharply against the launch of a ballistic missile by North Korea.
It was the first time in almost five years that a North Korean missile has flown over the Japanese archipelago.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida called the new missile test on Tuesday "outrageous".
The launch sparked a rare public missile alert, warning residents of the northern Japanese island of Hokaido and Aomori Prefecture on the northern tip of Japan's main island of Honshu to seek shelter in their homes,
Kyodo
news agency reported.
North Korea fires missile - Japan calls for evacuation
First report from October 4, 2022:
Tokyo / Seoul – Japan has called on residents in the north-east of its country to evacuate after the launch of a ballistic missile from North Korea.
“North Korea appears to have launched a missile.
Please evacuate to buildings or basements," the government said in a warning on Tuesday (October 4).
Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida described the incident as an "act of violence".
The South Korean General Staff confirmed the increase in military readiness.
At around 7:22 a.m. (00:22 a.m. CEST), North Korea fired "a ballistic missile eastwards," Japan's government spokesman Hirokazu Matsuno told journalists.
The details were still under investigation.
However, no one was injured in the shooting down, he said.
North Korea fires 'suspected' medium-range ballistic missile
The South Korean military confirmed the incident.
It said it had detected "a suspected intermediate-range ballistic missile" that was "launched from the Mupyong-Ri area of Jagang Province and flying eastward over Japan."
South Korea's General Staff said the military "maintains full readiness to work closely with the US and increase surveillance and vigilance."
On Tuesday morning (local time), Japan's J-Alert missile warning system was activated - a previously rare event.
The warning message was shown on the screens of state broadcaster NHK.
NHK reported that the warning applies to two northern regions of the country.
The Japanese Coast Guard later said the missile had apparently already crashed over the Pacific.
She warned ships not to approach falling objects.
The Japanese government has condemned North Korea's missile test as an "act of violence" after "repeated ballistic missile launches recently," Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said.
North Korea launches missile: part of long-term strategy
"If Pyongyang fired a missile over Japan, it would significantly escalate the recent provocation," said Leif-Eric Easley of Ewha University in Seoul.
According to the political scientist, North Korea's government is working on developing weapons such as "tactical nuclear warheads and submarine-launched ballistic missiles" as "part of a long-term strategy to outperform South Korea in an arms race and drive wedges between US allies."
A few days ago, North Korea fired ballistic missiles four times.
A few hours before the third missile was launched, US Vice President Kamala Harris visited neighboring South Korea.
Washington and Seoul are close allies.
Around 28,500 US soldiers are stationed in South Korea.
Last week, the South Korean and US navies held a large-scale joint military exercise.
On Friday, South Korea, Japan and the United States also started anti-submarine exercises for the first time in five years.
North Korea: Six nuclear weapons tests since 2066
South Korea and the United States fear that Pyongyang could test nuclear weapons for the first time since 2017.
According to South Korean and US officials, this could happen shortly after the upcoming party congress in China on Oct. 16.
The largely isolated Asian country has tested nuclear weapons six times since 2006, most recently in 2017. As a result of these nuclear weapons tests, the UN Security Council was able to agree on sanctions against Pyongyang for the last time.
According to diplomats, North Korea has nuclear bombs and ballistic missiles, but has not yet managed to combine these two technologies.
(skr/afp)
