North Korea reportedly fired about 10 ballistic missiles toward the eastern sea of Japan on Saturday, staging its own show of force amid the US-Iran war in West Asia and its rival South Korea’s joint military exercise with Washington.
According to Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), the missiles were launched from the Sunan area in North Korea toward the East Sea at around 1:20 pm (local time).
North Korea’s foreign ministry had released separate statements denouncing the joint US-Israeli attacks on Iran and expressing support for Tehran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei.
Now, Pyongyang has shown how far they have come in its own ballistic missile program.
All about the missile launches from North Korea
The ballistic missile launches from North Korea came as the US and South Korean militaries conduct their annual springtime exercises involving thousands of troops, while the Donald Trump administration is also engaged in an escalating war with Iran and the “Axis of Resistance”.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missiles were fired from an area in Sunan, the site of Pyongyang’s international airport, and flew about 350 kilometres (220 miles).
According to Japanese Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, the weapons landed outside the country’s exclusive economic zone, and there were no reports of damage to planes or ships.
The South’s Joint Chiefs said the military has stepped up surveillance and is maintaining readiness against possible additional launches while closely sharing information with the US and Japan.
Timing raises concern
The timing of the ballistic missile launches has raised concern as it comes at a time when the US is engaged in West Asia. The local media in South Korea, citing security camera footage and other images, is already speculating that the US is relocating some missile defence assets stationed in the country to support operations against Iran.
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung’s office has so far refused to comment on the US potentially moving interceptor missiles from its Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) system in Seongju to West Asia.
The office, however, said the potential relocation of US military assets would not affect the allies’ defence posture against nuclear-armed North Korea, while also citing South Korea’s conventional military strength. It earlier gave a similar response to reports about the possible relocation of Patriot missile defence systems from South Korea.
Hopes of opening talks with North Korea dashed?
The North Korean launches came hours after South Korean Prime Minister Kim Min-seok met US President Donald Trump in Washington and expressed hope for renewed diplomacy between Washington and Pyongyang.
President Lee seeks improved inter-Korean relations, and some of his top officials have said Trump’s expected visit to China, starting March 31, may create an opening with Pyongyang. But Saturday’s launches appeared to dim such hopes, signalling defiance by North Korea.
Pyongyang has repeatedly rejected Washington and Seoul’s calls to resume diplomacy aimed at winding down its nuclear program. Talks derailed in 2019 following the collapse of Kim Jong Un’s second summit with Trump during his first term.
The Kim dispensation has hardened its stance toward Seoul in recent months and urged Washington to drop denuclearisation demands as a precondition for talks.
Kim has made Russia the priority of his foreign policy, sending thousands of troops and large amounts of military equipment to support Moscow’s war in Ukraine, possibly in exchange for aid and military technology.
The South Korea-US military exercise
The 11-day Freedom Shield exercise, which runs through March 19, is one of two annual command post exercises conducted by the militaries of the United States and South Korea. The largely computer-simulated drills are designed to test the allies’ joint operational capabilities while incorporating evolving war scenarios and security challenges.
Freedom Shield will be accompanied by a field training program called Warrior Shield.
North Korea has long described the allies’ drills as invasion rehearsals and often uses them as a pretext to dial up its own military demonstrations or weapons testing.
The North in previous years has conducted numerous salvo launches of missiles or artillery while describing them as simulations of nuclear attacks against targets in South Korea.
The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Tuesday criticised Washington and Seoul for proceeding with their drills at a perilous moment for global security, and warned that any challenge to the North’s safety would bring “terrible consequences.”
Without directly referring to the Iran war, Kim Yo Jong said the US-South Korea drills undermine regional stability at a time when the global security structure is “collapsing rapidly, and wars break out in different parts of the world due to the reckless acts of outrageous international rogues.”