The South Korean military detected the launch of two short-range ballistic missiles attributed to North Korea on Monday, February 20. According to the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Seoul, the shots fired “from Sukchon areas in South Pyongan Province between 7 a.m. and 7:11 a.m. this morning [between 11 p.m. and 11:11 p.m. Sunday CET] “, a region located north of Pyongyang, the North Korean capital.
Shortly after, North Korea released a statement saying it had “twice fired multiple 600mm rocket launchers” into the East Sea, referring to the extent of the attack. water also known as the Sea of ??Japan.
The Japanese Ministry of Defense said the first missile reached the maximum altitude of 100 kilometers and flew up to 400 kilometers, while the second missile reached an altitude of around 50 kilometers and traveled a distance of 350 kilometers. . Tokyo condemned the launches, calling them a threat to the peace and security of Japan and the international community.
‘Acts of provocation’, says UN chief
These shots come ahead of new joint military maneuvers by Washington and Seoul scheduled for the week to improve the reaction in the event of a North Korean nuclear attack. Already on Saturday, Pyongyang fired an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) – a Hwasong-15 missile – in a joint warning to the United States and South Korea. The shooting was condemned on Sunday by United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who called on Pyongyang in a press release to stop such “acts of provocation”.
The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un threatened on Monday to retaliate against joint military exercises between Seoul and Washington, which Pyongyang considers a repeat invasion against her. “The frequency of using the Pacific as a firing range depends on the type of actions of US forces,” Kim Yo-jong said in a statement released by the official KCNA news agency.
North Korea praised its soldiers for carrying out the “sudden fire drill” on Saturday, but South Korean analysts pointed out that the nine-hour delay between the order and the launch was not particularly fast. Kim Yo-jong dismissed these criticisms as “an attempt to underestimate the readiness of the DPRK’s ballistic forces”.
Relations at rock bottom between the two Koreas
Hong Min of the Korea Institute for National Unification told Agence France-Presse that the angry reaction was part of a “tendency” by North Korea to push back against any outside assessment of its capabilities. in ICBMs.
“Kim’s strong and angry reaction to the outside assessment of his ICBM launch shows that the North is serious about getting the message across that it is capable of striking the continental United States,” he noted, adding that Monday’s launch was its response “to the joint Korea-US air exercise over the weekend.” The use of shorter-range missiles indicates that North Korea is “virtually targeting US bases and the South Korean command center in the region”, according to Hong.
“We are well aware of the movement of US forces’ strategic strike assets that has recently accelerated around the Korean Peninsula,” Kim Yo-jong also said. Calling the United States “the worst maniacs,” she threatened to take an unspecified “corresponding reaction” in response to the actions of the U.S. military.
It could refer to aerial exercises of stealth aircraft, such as American long-range B-1B bombers, carried out on Sunday for joint training of the United States with South Korea and Japan.
“The exercise [helped] demonstrate the timely and immediate deployment of U.S. extended deterrence assets on the Korean Peninsula,” demonstrating the “overwhelming strength” of the allies, South Korea’s defense ministry said in a statement. .
Relations between Pyongyang and Seoul are already at their lowest level in years. In 2022, the North called its status as a nuclear power “irreversible” and Kim Jong-un called for an “exponential” growth in the production of armaments, including tactical nuclear weapons.