North Korea fired a ballistic missile and hundreds of artillery shells toward the sea Friday and flew warplanes near the tense border with South Korea, further raising animosities triggered by the North’s recent barrage of weapons tests.
The North Korean actions suggest that it is trying to resurrect an old tactic of inflaming fear of war with provocative weapon testing before it seeks greater concessions on the part of its rivals.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement the short-range missile lifted off from the North’s capital region at 1:49 a.m. Friday (1649 GMT Thursday; 12:49 p.m. EDT Thursday) and flew toward its eastern waters.
It was North Korea’s 15th missile launch since it resumed testing activities Sept. 25. North Korea said Monday its recent missile tests were simulations of nuclear strikes on South Korean and U.S. targets in response to their “dangerous” military exercises involving a U.S. aircraft carrier.
SOUTH KOREA SAYS IT HAS ABILITY TO INTERCEPT NORTH’S MISSILES
A TV screen shows a file image of North Korea’s missile launch during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Oct. 14, 2022.
(AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
Soon after the latest missile test, North Korea fired 130 rounds of shells off its west coast and 40 rounds off its east coast. The shells fell inside maritime buffer zones the two Koreas established under a 2018 inter-Korean agreement on reducing tensions, South Korea’s military said.
On Friday afternoon, South Korea’s military said North Korea fired 80 additional shells off its east coast. It said it also detected signs of about 200 other North Korean artillery launches off its west coast, citing firing sounds and splashes. In both coasts, the North Korean shells were believed to have landed in the buffer zones again, according to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Observers said it was North Korea’s third and most direct violation of the 2018 agreement, which created buffer zones and no-fly areas along their land and sea boundaries to prevent accidental clashes. South Korea’s Defense Ministry said it earlier sent North Korea a message asking it not to violate the agreement again.
North Korea separately flew warplanes, presumably 10 aircraft, near the rivals’ border late Thursday and early Friday, prompting South Korea to scramble fighter jets. There were no reports of clashes between the two countries. It was reportedly the first time that North Korean military aircraft have flown that close to the border since 2017.
NORTH KOREAN STATE MEDIA SAYS EARLIER MISSILE LAUNCHES WERE INTENDED TO ‘WIPE OUT’ ENEMIES
A TV screen shows an image file showing North Korea’s missile launch in a news program that was broadcast at Seoul Railway Station in Seoul (South Korea), Friday, Oct. 14, 2022.
(AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said North Korea’s provocations are becoming “indiscriminative’” but that his country has massive retaliation capabilities that can deter actual North Korean assaults to some extent.
“The decision to attack can’t be made without a willingness to risk a brutal outcome,” Yoon told reporters. “The North’s final step in the three-axis strategy would be to impose a massive punishment and retaliation strategy. This would provide a substantial psychological and social deterrent.”
South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said Friday it imposed sanctions on 15 North Korean individuals and 16 organizations suspected of involvement in illicit activities to finance North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missile programs. They were Seoul’s first unilateral sanctions on North Korea in five years, but observers say they are largely a symbolic step because the two Koreas have little financial dealings between them.
Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters he supports South Korea’s decision to impose the sanctions.
NORTH KOREA’S KIM JONG UN UVERSAW TACTICAL Nuclear MILITARY Training
A TV screen displays a file image from North Korea’s military drill during a news program that aired at Seoul Railway Station, Seoul, South Korea on Friday, October 14, 2022. North Korea fired a short range ballistic missile at its eastern waters Friday morning and flew warplanes along the border to South Korea’s border, further increasing animosities after the North’s recent wave of weapon tests. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
(AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
Most of the North’s recent weapons tests were ballistic missile launches that are banned by United Nations Security Council resolutions. But the North hasn’t been slapped with fresh sanctions thanks to a divide at the U.N. over U.S. disputes with Russia regarding its invasion of Ukraine and with China over their strategic competition.
According to South Korean assessments, the missile flew 650-700 km (403-434 miles) at an altitude of 50 kilometers (30 mi) before it touched down in waters between Japan (Korean Peninsula) and South Korea.
“Whatever the intentions are, North Korea’s repeated ballistic missile launches are absolutely impermissible and we cannot overlook its substantial advancement of Missile technology” Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada said.
In a statement, the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command stated that America’s commitment to South Korea and Japan defense remains “ironclad”.
NORTH KOREA FIRES TWO MISSILES QUICKLY AFTER US – SOUTH KOREA DRILLS CONCLUDE
Fumio Kishida is Japan’s Prime Minster. He talks to Yasukazu Hamada, Defense Minister, during a cabinet meeting held at Kishida’s Tokyo Office on Friday, Oct. 14, 2022.
(Keisuke Hosojima/Kyodo News via AP)
Another recent test by North Korea included an intermediate-range missile, which flew above Japan and showed a potential range. The U.S. PacificGuam, territory; long-range missile cruise missiles; and a missile that can be fired from an inland reservoir. This was a first for Guam.
After Wednesday’s cruise missile launches, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his nuclear forces were fully prepared for “actual war to bring enemies under their control at a blow” and vowed to expand the operational realm of his nuclear armed forces, according to North Korea’s state media.
Some observers believed North Korea would temporarily halt its testing activities this week, in light of China’s ally. China will hold a major political conference on Sunday. It is expected that President Xi Jinping will receive a third five-year term.
Chinese Foreign MinistryMao Ning, spokesperson, said at a regular briefing Friday afternoon that all the countries in the region should work together to prevent tensions escalating. He also suggested that they move towards meaningful talks.
NUCLEAR-POWERED US CARRIER JOINS NORTH KOREA WARSHIPS TO DRILLS AFTER NORTH KOREA MISCILE LAUNCHES
Kim Jong Un, North Korean leader, is seen in this photo taken by the North Korean government. He supervises tests for long-range cruise missiles at an undisclosed site in North Korea, Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2022.
(Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)
North Korea’s ongoing testing spree is reminiscent of its 2017 torrid run of missile and nuclear tests that prompted Kim and Donald Trump, the then-President of United StatesTo exchange threats to total destruction. Kim entered abruptly into high-stakes nuclear diplomacy in 2018 with Trump, but negotiations collapsed a year later because of wrangling over how much sanctions relief Kim should receive in return for partial surrender of his nuclear capabilities.
Kim has repeated his belief in this.He does not intend to resume nuclear diplomacy. Experts believe he would like to be recognized internationally as a nuclear country and to hold arms control negotiations with the United States to obtain substantial sanctions relief and other concessions in exchange for partial denuclearization.
The urgency of North Korea’s nuclear program has grown since it passed a law last month authorizing the preemptive use of nuclear weapons over a broad range of scenarios, including non-war situations when it may perceive its leadership as under threat.
Recent North Korean tests involved short-range nuclear-capable ballistic missiles, which were directed at South Korea. Some analysts say North Korea’s possible upcoming nuclear test, its first bomb detonation in five years, would be related to efforts to manufacture battlefield tactical warheads to be placed on such short-range missiles.
A South Korean soldier is seen standing guard in a military post at the Imjingak Pavilion, Paju, South Korea. It is located near the border to North Korea on Friday, October 14, 2022.
(AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
These developments caused security concerns in South Korea. Scholars and politicians renewed their commitment to the country. For the U.S.South Korea will redeploy its tactical nukes in South Korea to counter the growing nuclear threat from North Korea.
North Korea’s military early Friday said it took unspecified “strong military countermeasures” in response to South Korea’s artillery fire for about 10 hours near the border on Thursday. South Korea’s military later confirmed it conducted artillery training at a frontline area but said its drills didn’t violate the conditions of the 2018 agreement.
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Maj. Gen. Kang Ho Pil of South Korea Joint Chiefs of Staff stated that South Korea has issued “a strong warning to North Korea” to stop its weapon testing.
South Korea’s military said it will begin an annual 12-day field training Monday to hone its operational capabilities under various scenarios of North Korean provocations. Unspecified numbers of it were said. U.S. troops plan to take part in this year’s drills.
