North Korea has fired a ballistic missile off its east coast, according to South Korea’s military officials. This latest launch continues a series of weapons tests that have drawn condemnation from the United States, South Korea, and Japan. The missile launches come just days after North Korea announced the test of the “Pulhwasal-3-31” strategic cruise missile, which Pyongyang claims is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) reported detecting several missiles over waters near the North Korean port of Sinpo, a site known for manufacturing naval assets, including missile-firing submarines. “While strengthening surveillance and vigilance, our military is cooperating closely with the United States and monitoring additional signs and activities from North Korea,” the JCS stated.
In recent weeks, North Korea has ramped up its weapons tests, including the launch of a purported “underwater nuclear weapon system” and a solid-fueled hypersonic ballistic missile. Although North Korea is not banned from testing cruise missiles under UN sanctions, which prohibit more sophisticated ballistic technology, these launches are likely to exacerbate tensions with Washington, Seoul, and Tokyo.
Despite international sanctions and censure, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has made significant strides in advancing his country’s ballistic missile program. Analysts suggest that this progress has been bolstered by cooperation with Russia. Earlier this month, Kim declared South Korea as his country’s “principal enemy” and stated that peaceful reunification of the Korean Peninsula was no longer possible.
In response to Pyongyang’s tests, the US, South Korea, and Japan have expanded their joint military exercises, which Kim has described as rehearsals for an invasion. North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency condemned these drills, vowing “merciless” consequences and warning that the country was “fully prepared for a deadly war.”
On Monday, North Korea test-fired two ballistic missiles, although one of them possibly flew abnormally, according to South Korea’s military. The Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missiles were launched 10 minutes apart from the town of Jangyon in southeastern North Korea. The first missile flew 600 kilometers (370 miles), while the second missile traveled 120 kilometers (75 miles). The second missile’s flight distance was too short to reach the eastern waters, and it may have suffered an abnormal flight during its initial stage.
South Korean media reported that the second missile likely crashed in an inland area of North Korea, while the first missile landed in the waters off the North’s eastern city of Chongjin. The Joint Chiefs of Staff condemned the launches as a provocation that poses a serious threat to peace on the Korean Peninsula. They emphasized that South Korea maintains a firm readiness to repel any provocations by North Korea in conjunction with the military alliance with the United States.
The missile launches occurred just two days after South Korea, the US, and Japan concluded their new multidomain trilateral drills in the region. These exercises, known as the “Freedom Edge” drill, aimed to increase the sophistication of previous exercises with simultaneous air and naval drills focused on improving joint ballistic-missile defense, anti-submarine warfare, surveillance, and other capabilities. The three-day drill involved a US aircraft carrier, destroyers, fighter jets, and helicopters from the three countries.
North Korea’s Foreign Ministry issued a lengthy statement denouncing the “Freedom Edge” drill, calling the US-South Korea-Japan partnership an Asian version of NATO. The statement claimed that the drill destroyed the security environment on the Korean Peninsula and contained a US intention to lay siege to China and exert pressure on Russia. North Korea vowed to “firmly defend the sovereignty, security, and interests of the state and peace in the region through offensive and overwhelming countermeasures.”
Monday’s launches were North Korea’s first weapons firing in five days. On Wednesday, North Korea launched what it called a multiwarhead missile in the first known test of a developmental, advanced weapon meant to defeat US and South Korean missile defenses. North Korea claimed the launch was successful, but South Korea dismissed this as deception to cover up a failed launch.
In recent weeks, North Korea has also floated numerous trash-carrying balloons toward South Korea in response to South Korean activists sending political leaflets via their own balloons. Last month, North Korea and Russia struck a deal vowing mutual defense assistance if either is attacked, raising concerns that it could embolden Kim to launch more provocations at South Korea.
Meanwhile, North Korea opened a key ruling party meeting to address “important, immediate issues” related to enhancing Korean-style socialism. Observers noted that the meeting was ongoing.
In a separate incident, North Korea test-fired a suspected intermediate-range ballistic missile toward waters off its eastern coast. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff reported that the missile was launched from an area near Pyongyang and flew about 600 kilometers (372 miles) before landing in the sea between the Korean Peninsula and Japan. Japan’s Defense Ministry provided more details, stating that the missile flew about 650 kilometers (403 miles) and reached a maximum altitude of 100 kilometers (62 miles) before landing in waters outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone.
Following the launch, South Korea, the US, and Japan conducted a combined aerial exercise above waters near Jeju Island, involving at least one nuclear-capable US B-52 bomber. The exercise aimed to enhance response capabilities against North Korean nuclear and missile threats.
Tensions in the region have risen since 2022, as Kim used Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a distraction to accelerate his testing of missiles and other weapons. The US and South Korea have responded by expanding their combined training and trilateral drills involving Japan, sharpening their deterrence strategies built around strategic US assets.
There are concerns that North Korea could further escalate pressure in an election year in the US and South Korea. Following the March 19 test of the solid-fuel IRBM engine, Kim stated that the strategic value of such weapons would be as important as his intercontinental ballistic missiles targeting the US mainland.
In recent years, North Korea has focused on developing more weapons with built-in solid propellants, which are easier to move and hide and can be launched quicker than liquid-propellant missiles. Kim has also vowed to acquire hypersonic missiles that can overwhelm adversaries’ missile defense systems. Other weapons tested this year include cruise missiles and “super-large” multiple rocket launchers aimed at the Seoul capital area.
The latest launch came two days after North Korea reaffirmed its plans to launch several reconnaissance satellites this year. South Korea’s military reported no signs of an impending satellite launch at North Korea’s main launch facility in the northwest.
Kim has described satellites as crucial for monitoring US and South Korean military movements and enhancing the threat of his nuclear-capable missiles. Last November, North Korea put a military spy satellite into orbit for the first time.
Source: Al Jazeera, Associated Press, and news agencies
