Tokyo, Japan
DailyExpertNews
—
North Korea launched a “suspected ballistic missile” on Sunday, Japan’s defense ministry said.
The news follows a spate of missile tests by North Korea, including the launch of a long-range missile on Thursday when leaders from South Korea and Japan met in Tokyo and two cruise missiles from a submarine and two short-range missiles days before. .
Japan’s Coast Guard said in a statement released at 11:20 a.m. local time that the missile launched on Sunday appeared to have landed.
It warned all ships to await further information; do not approach fallen objects; and to report suspicious activity.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) also said they detected a short-range ballistic missile fired from the Dongchang-ri area in North Korea’s North Pyongan province at around 11:05 a.m. local time.
The JCS said the military had strengthened surveillance and vigilance in preparation for additional launches “while maintaining a full readiness posture through close coordination with the US.”
Pyongyang’s latest tests coincide with spring joint military exercises between the United States and South Korea – the largest war games the Allies have staged in five years.
Ahead of the 11-day Freedom Shield exercises, North Korea had threatened to take the “hardest counter-action against the most vicious plots by the US and its minions”.
Sunday’s ballistic missile launch came a day after North Korea claimed about 800,000 of its citizens had volunteered to join or re-enlist in the country’s military to fight against the United States. to fight.
The state newspaper Rodong Sinmun reported on Saturday that about 800,000 students and workers across the country on Friday alone had expressed a desire to enlist or re-enlist in the military to counter the United States.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has accused the United States and South Korea of rising tensions over the military exercises.
North Korea often responds to what it considers “provocations” by the US by issuing warmongering threats. Experts say that in addition to joint military exercises and this week’s meeting between South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese leader Fumio Kishida, objections have been raised to US President Joe Biden’s plan to have Yoon and his wife in custody next month. to receive the White House.
The state visit will be the second of the Biden presidency, underlining the close ties between the US and South Korea, and will take place on April 26. Conservative Yoon and his administration have made strengthening the US-South Korea alliance a major foreign policy priority. Biden has likewise sought to nurture the relationship, including with the symbolic milestone of his trip to Seoul in May 2022, his first stop on his inaugural trip to Asia as president.
Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha Womans University in Seoul, recently told DailyExpertNews that in response to the exercises and summits, Pyongyang “might order missiles to be fired over longer ranges, try to launch a spy satellite, will demonstrate a solid fuel engine, and may even conduct a nuclear test.”
