Successful North Korean Missile Launch Puts Regional Neighbours on Edge

North Korea has fired three ballistic missiles off the east coast of the peninsula with a reported range of between 500 to 600 kilometres, enough to strike anywhere on the southern peninsula according to South Korean military sources.

The missiles were launched in the direction of Japan before plunging into the East Sea from an area west of Pyongyang between 5.45am and 6.40am local time last Tuesday. With a range that can reach the southernmost point of Korea in Busan, South Korea’s second biggest city, and half way up the south-west coast of mainland Japan, the successful launch suggests that the North have made significant progress in missile development.

The international community immediately condemned the launch as a dangerous act of militaristic posturing, aimed at further provoking hostilities with the North’s regional neighbours. The United Nations Security Council is to meet on Wednesday to discuss North Korea’s latest ballistic missile launch, which French ambassador to the UN, Francois Delattre has called an “unacceptable violation” of UN sanctions. Delattre says

“We want a quick and firm reaction of the Security Council on this.”

Leaders throughout the region have expressed concern that the international community should not underestimate the North’s capabilities given the success of their recent launch. Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani, observing that the recently launched missiles achieved their longest trajectory to date, has cautioned that

“the threat to Japan is intensifying.”

North Korea has fired a series of ballistic missiles in the last few months in violation of UN sanctions, including intermediate-range missiles in June and a missile launched from a submarine earlier this month. Many commentators suggest that such military posturing is a retaliatory response to what Pyongyang sees as the US and South Korea encroaching on their sovereignty in the region.

The recent launch has occurred just days after the US and South Korea finalized a deal regarding the introduction of a proposed Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-missile system to the South. The missile defense system is armed with technology to shoot down short and medium range ballistic missiles and has been seen as an important security measure to counter the threat of the hostile north in the future. North Korea has threatened to act forcefully against the South with a “physical response” once the location and time of installation of the defense system is finalied.

Rebecca Piesse

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