Seoul/Tokyo, October 4
Kim Jong-un-led North Korea test-fired a ballistic missile farther than ever before on Tuesday, sending it soaring over Japan for the first time in five years and prompting a warning for residents there to take cover.
US, Japanese, South Korean jets carry out drills
In response to the test, US and South Korean warplanes practice bombing a target in the Yellow Sea. The Japanese government warned its citizens to take cover.
Jets from the US and Japan carried out drills over the Sea of Japan. “Our commitment to the defence of Korea and Japan remains ironclad,” the US Indo-Pacific Command stated.
Barbaric action
North Korea’s action is barbaric. The latest firing is a reckless act and I strongly condemn it. — Fumio Kishida, Japan PM
US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida spoke by phone and condemned the test in the “strongest terms,” calling it a danger to the Japanese people, and Biden reinforced the “ironclad” US commitment to the defence of Japan, the White House said.
The United States will also ask the United Nations Security Council to meet publicly on Wednesday on North Korea, a US official said.
It was the first North Korean missile to follow such a trajectory since 2017, and its estimated 4,600 km (2,850 mile) range was the longest travelled by a North Korean test missile, which are usually “lofted” high into space to avoid flying over neighbouring countries.
In response to the test, US and South Korean warplanes practiced bombing a target in the Yellow Sea and fighter jets from the United States and Japan also carried out joint drills over the Sea of Japan, the US military said.
Japan warned its citizens to take cover and suspended some train services when the missile passed over its north before falling into the Pacific Ocean. It was the latest in an escalating cycle of muscle flexing.
A US aircraft carrier made a port call in South Korea for the first time since 2018 on September 23 and North Korea has conducted five launches in the last 10 days.
The period has also seen joint drills by the US, South Korea and Japan, and a visit to the fortified border between the Koreas by US Vice President Kamala Harris, who accused the North of undermining security.
North Korea accuses the United States and its allies of threatening it with exercises and defence build-ups.
Recent tests had drawn relatively muted responses from Washington, which is focused on the war in Ukraine as well as other domestic and foreign crises.
But the US military has stepped up displays of force and the White House National Security Council called the latest test “dangerous and reckless.”
A White House statement said Biden and Kishda “confirmed they would continue to closely coordinate their immediate and longer-term response bilaterally, trilaterally with the Republic of Korea, and with the international community.”
“They resolved to continue every effort to limit the DPRK’s ability to support its unlawful ballistic missile and weapons of mass destruction programs,” it said.
After Tuesday’s test, a South Korean air force F-15K jet dropped a pair of guided bombs on a target off its west coast, in what Seoul called a demonstration of precision strike capability against the source of North Korean provocations.
Japan said it took no steps to shoot the missile down but Defence Minister Yasukazu Hamada said it would not rule out any option, including counterattack capabilities, as it looks to strengthen its defences.
South Korea also said it would boost its military and increase allied cooperation.
US National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson called the North Korean test “destabilising” and said it showed North Korea’s “blatant disregard for United Nations Security Council resolutions and international safety norms.” The launch violates UN Security Council resolutions, which have imposed sanctions over North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it appeared to have been an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) launched from North Korea’s Jagang Province. North Korea has launched several recent tests from there, including multiple missiles that it said were “hypersonic”. The initial details suggested the missile may have been the Hwasong-12 IRBM, which North Korea unveiled in 2017 as part of what it said was a plan to strike US military bases in Guam, said Kim Dong-yup, a former South Korea Navy officer who teaches at Kyungnam University. — Agencies
