North Korea fired a ballistic missile into the Sea of Japan on Tuesday, military sources in Seoul said. hours before the national celebrations of the 4th of July in the United States for Independence Day.
In a new escalation of international tension around its nuclear ambitions, Pyongyang fired the shot days after US President Donald Trump and the new South Korean president Moon Jae-In together examined the “threat” it represents.
The “unidentified ballistic missile” was fired from a site near Banghyon in the North Korean province North Phyongan, added the South Korean Armed Forces in a statement, specifying that the missile fell into the Sea of Japan.
The missile “flew several hundred kilometers,” they said, without specifying the model of the rocket. A spokeswoman for the South Korean Defense Ministry told AFP that the missile may have fallen within Japan’s exclusive economic zone, that is, less than 200 nautical miles from its shores.
Japanese chief of staff Yoshihide Suga said in Tokyo that the missile had flown “for about 40 minutes”, an unusually long time. “This ballistic missile launch can never be tolerated, Japan strongly protested to North Korea for it and condemned it,” told the press.
Following a first summit with Moon Jae-In last week in Washington, Trump said the North Korean “threat” required a “firm response.”
rising tensions
Pyongyang has launched several missiles since Moon came to power in South Korea, favorable to imposing more sanctions to prevent the communist neighbor from developing its nuclear power by imposing more sanctions, although it did not close the door to dialogue either.
After Tuesday’s shooting, Moon immediately called a meeting of the National Security Council in Seoul. to examine the response. Since he arrived at the White House, Trump has sought to convince China to exert its influence to contain the North Korean government, although so far the option has not shown results.
The situation became even more tense after the Pyongyang government released and sent back American Otto Warmbier, who had been detained 18 months ago in North Korea. Warmbier arrived in the United States in a coma and died a few days later from a brain infection whose cause was never clarified.
The United States currently has about 28,000 soldiers in South Korea.
In recent months, Washington has taken steps to flex its military muscle, in response to what has been seen as an aggressive show of force by North Korea.
The United States also responded with a test last month of its intercontinental missile shield. For the first time, a ground-based interceptor rocket it was launched from California and hit and destroyed an intercontinental ballistic missile fired from the middle of the Pacific.
In May, China had also tested a new missile in the Bohai Sea, near the Korean peninsula. Pyongyang is seeking to develop an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of carrying nuclear warheads. Successive packages of sanctions imposed by the UN since a first North Korean nuclear test in 2006 have failed to dissuade Pyongyang from pressing ahead with its programs.
North Korea has already carried out five underground nuclear tests, two of them in 2016, and tries to equip itself with intercontinental missiles capable of transporting an atomic load.
AFP
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