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NORTH KOREA FIRED a ballistic missile into the sea off northern Japan, drawing an outraged response from Tokyo and ramping up already elevated tensions with the United States and South Korea.
The US military said the North had actually launched two Rodong intermediate-range missiles simultaneously, but one appeared to have exploded on takeoff.
The launches came after North Korea threatened “physical action” in response to the planned deployment of a sophisticated US anti-missile system in South Korea, and just weeks before the start of annual joint South Korea-US military exercises.
Japan said the one missile had landed 250 kilometres off its northern coast and within the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).
“It’s a serious threat against our country’s security,” Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters.
This is an outrageous act that cannot be tolerated.
The United States condemned what it called a clear violation of UN Security Council resolutions explicitly prohibiting North Korea’s use of ballistic missile technology.
“This provocation only serves to increase the international community’s resolve to counter (North Korea’s) prohibited activities,” said Pentagon spokesman Gary Ross.
Two missiles
US Strategic Command said the two missiles were launched from a site in western North Korea at around 22:50 GMT Tuesday.
“Initial indications reveal one of the missiles exploded immediately after launch, while the second was tracked over North Korea and into the Sea of Japan.”
It was the first time since 1998 that a North Korean missile had landed inside Japan’s EEZ and top government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said there had been no advance warning.
“From the perspective of the safety of aircraft and ships, it is an extremely problematic, dangerous act,” Suga said.
The Rodong is a scaled-up Scud variant with a maximum range of around 1,300 kilometres.
Pyongyang has conducted a series of missile tests this year in defiance of UN sanctions imposed after its fourth nuclear test in January.
On July 19 it launched three ballistic missiles – including one Rodong – in an exercise that the North said simulated a nuclear strike on the South.
Elevated tensions
That came just days after Washington and Seoul announced an agreement to deploy the US Terminal High Altitude Area Defence, or THAAD, system in South Korea by the end of next year – a move condemned by Pyongyang and also vehemently opposed by China and Russia.
And tensions on the divided Korean peninsula are also building up ahead of a large-scale South Korea-US military exercise that begins on 22 August and involves tens of thousands of troops.
North Korea says the annual drills are a provocative rehearsal for invasion, while Washington and Seoul insist they are purely defensive in nature.
“Our commitment to the defense of our allies, including the Republic of Korea and Japan, in the face of these threats, is ironclad,” Ross said today.
We remain prepared to defend ourselves and our allies from any attack or provocation.
There are nearly 30,000 US troops permanently stationed in South Korea.
North Korea-US tensions had already been stoked by Pyongyang’s fury at Washington’s recent decision to personally target leader Kim with sanctions related to human rights abuses.
Pyongyang has repeatedly warned of pre-emptive nuclear strikes against the South and US targets there and elsewhere, although the main focus of its nuclear weapons programme is to develop a credible strike threat against the US mainland.
Since its fourth nuclear test, North Korea has claimed a series of technical breakthroughs for its weapons programme.
It said it had miniaturised a nuclear warhead and successfully tested an engine designed for an inter-continental ballistic missile that could reach the US mainland.
While some experts say the claims are exaggerated, most acknowledge that the North’s nuclear and ballistic missile programmes have made significant strides.
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Is it me or does anyone else think this world of ours is heading for another war?
Nope. Just he paranoid…
Comparing history now to before ww1 or 2 I’d say yes
It’s already at war!
I doubt it, despite their loud bluster the North Koreans won’t do anything. The Chinese are getting an embarrassed parent feeling every time the North Korean government opens it’s mouth and arguably they won’t step in this time if the North Koreans are idiotic enough to attack South Korea or Japan.
Add to this the fact that the North Koreans have about 5 soldiers for every gun, most of their hardware dates from the mid-50′s which is in a state of disrepair and their nation is teetering on another famine and the result is a swift and utter defeat if they dare to attack.
Anyone see the programme on panorama the other night? Can’t remember the journalists name but what an interesting insight to how they deal with foreign members of the media and the shows they put on for their benefit. it makes you question every little thing they put in front of him.. in fairness to the journalists and the dignitaries they had balls , from disagreeing with their minders and speaking their mind at times in front of korean students who were obviously told what to say.. how that many people can be controlled is mad altogether.. the mind boggles when it comes to north korea.
Well just think of Nazi Germany and what it managed to do to its own citizens!
Or the way FF has convinced the people of this island that the only alternative after they’ve facked things up is their buddy’s in FG. If North Korea ever get a chance to play democracy they should have a good look at us as an example of what not to do.
What channel was the programme. Just wondering. I would be interested in seeing it.
Apologes. I see now it was Panorama. Thanks.
@Fionn
The journalist is Rupert Wingfield-Hayes. It was a brilliant documentary. Furthermore, the producer who was a member of his team in North Korea is Carlow woman Maria Byrne.
Cheers Ciarán , I didn’t know that, fair play to her and the rest they really got up the Koreans noses.. did you see the young fella who admitted they had limited access to the internet and worked mostly off the college intranet? I’m convinced he was going to be sent to do some hard labour after he said that.
@Fionn
I saw that young fella.
When I heard Rupert say that he was accused of making fun of Korean people’s faces by describing them in a BBC online article as sad-looking, I think, and of comparing them to dogs simply because he wrote that an official “barked” orders at him, I laughed.
It would be hilarious if it wasn’t for the fact that millions of people have died in North Korea in the past 25 years because of their government.
Would be far better if Kim invested in his people and actually stopped them starving to death.
Won’t happen, he’s too busy declaring war on America and being promptly ignored by pretty much everyone. Shows how insane the situation has become when a country that claims to have the largest army in the world can declare war on someone and nobody takes it seriously, not even the one who’s being declared war on.
I wish someone would launch fattie far far away..
Can we get Hans Blix on the phone there lads
“already elevated tensions with the United States and South Korea.” A quote Sarah Palin would be proud of…
Next year their missiles will miss Japan by by 300 kms…..
Mr Kim may want to read his countries history with regards to Japan. Not a crew he wants to go upsetting.
The outcome would depend on which history book he reads I’d say..
As close to another Hitler that exists today. He and his horrible regime need to be wiped out.
Did this even happen? Doesn’t matter, because the yanks will build their missile defence system in the South regardless.
Can you blame them? There’s an angry neighbour to the north that has starved it’s population to keep an oversized army and nuclear programme running and has a history of surprise invasions.
I’m just not a fan of America’s “missile defence systems” Jason. They’re provocative at the very least. OK, I can understand South Korea’s apparent need for one, to an extent, but having them installed in Europe is a disgrace.
One wonders if a US “missile defence system” in South Korea has as much to do with cornering Russia ever further, than with the angry neighbour to the north.
Why the quotations Piotrek? That’s exactly what they are. The missiles used within the missile defence systems are modified Surface to Air Missiles which have zero offensive capabilities.
Installing them in Korea is pretty useless if your objective is to corner Russia, given the fact that ballistic missiles fired from eastern Russia at the West Coast would pass nowhere near Korea or Japan for that matter.
Installing them in Europe is hardly a disgrace either. The US and most of Europe are members of NATO, a self-defence alliance. If you had a set of systems that could help protect yourself and your allies from potential nuclear annihilation then why wouldn’t you install them along potential threat avenues? It’s not like the Russians don’t have their own systems in place (Moscow is protected by a suite of missile defence systems as well).
Ah please, Jason. You’re clearly a well-read guy but you always allow your anti-Russian bias to blinker you badly.
I’m not familiar with the distances these weapons can travel but for argument’s sake, you’re saying to me that an offensive missile wouldn’t reach Seoul from Vladivostok, yet one would reach Warsaw or Bucharest from, say, Tabriz in the very west of Iran? Because Iran is the reason why the yanks have these systems in Eastern Europe to begin with isn’t it? Or are they lying about that? That it was always really intended to provoke the Russians all along, is blatantly obvious. It’s always been about Russia because without Russia, there is no counterbalance to what the US and it’s allies can get away with in the middle east.
And don’t talk to me about NATO as a self-defence alliance. Which NATO member were they defending with they bombed the sh!t out of the Serbs in the 90′s? So illegal and severe was that, that there are still legitimate calls for NATO leaders to face war crimes in the Hague.
I think you missed my point Piotrek.
The missiles aren’t in South Korea to counter Russian missiles. Russia could very easily hit South Korea with most of their arsenal (as it was designed to have full coverage of America). It’s just that they have no reason to. The missiles also can’t be used to intercept potential attacks on America because the trajectory Russian missiles would follow would pass nowhere near Korea. The defence systems are in place to protect South Korea and Japan from North Korean and Chinese nuclear strikes.
The most potent Iranian missile, the Shahab-3, has a maximum range of 2,000km which gives it the ability to strike sections of Eastern Europe. The missile defence shield is obviously there to protect somewhat from Iran (given their low but ever-present threat) but are mostly there for defence against Russia.
Calling that a provocation, as you say, is wrong though. Not only are the Russians doing the exact same (making them hypocrites) but how in anyone’s right mind can purely defensive weapons with no offensive capability be classed as provocations?
If I’m missing your point, you’re certainly also missing mine.
When you call the Russians hypocrites, saying they are doing the same thing, are you referring to the defence system installed around their capital city, Moscow? Because that is not the same thing at all.
Piotrek. Does any State not have the right to place an entirely Defensive system on their own territory? To say they are not is the equivalent of saying a householder has no right to put locks on their doors and windows because it prevents intruders getting into their house.
I’ve a tenner says it didn’t hit a whale.
Here we go again….some tensions and military activity in the far east…..not the middle east this time..but whos still smack bang in the middle of it!?!?!?!?!?! The US!!!!!! You wouldnt mind but only one country has ever dropped a nuclear bomb on another and it wasnt North Korea and it was also done in that region! They should get the flock clean out of there…its zero to do with them and they have a very negative footprint and legacy in the region already
The invitation from South Korea and Japan to station troops and warships in their countries, despite the end of the Cold War, suggests otherwise. Like it or not the South Koreans want US troops there as the US played a pivotal role in maintaining democracy in South Korea. They’re well aware that rampant poverty, famine, concentration camps and zero public freedom would be the norm in the South were it not for the US.
Just like the poverty and killings in huge numbers that it has in its own land you mean!???
Is NHK broadcasting in 8K already?
Yes they started on Monday, but the dear leader Kim Jong-un has moved the entire population of North Korea into Virtual Reality.
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