What’s behind the missile that North Korea launched on Japan (and how it fuels the nuclear threat)

As if world security wasn’t in danger enough, North Korea again raised the tone of its missile tests amid rumors of a nuclear test. Kim Jong-un’s regime fired an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) on Tuesday that flew over Japan for the first time in five years, prompting Tokyo to activate its alert system and ask citizens in two regions to seek shelter underground.

LOOK: What is known about the missile North Korea fired over Japan, where people were told to seek shelter underground

According to the Government of Japan, the missile registered a maximum height close to 1,000 kilometers and a final distance of 4,600 kilometers. Although it flew for about a minute over Aomori prefecture before landing in the Pacific Ocean some 3,200 kilometers from Japan, it is the furthest projectile to date of any projectile tested by Pyongyang.

The newspaper “The Japan Times” indicates that, after the launch, Japan’s J-Alert alert system was activated for the first time since 2017, with alerts issued for Hokkaido and Aomori prefecture, as well as for the Izu islands of Tokyo, where residents were urged to take shelter.

The reaction of Japan and its allies was immediate. Eight Japanese and four US military aircraft conducted exercises west of Japan’s Kyushu region. South Korea also participated in the joint response, which together with US forces carried out a precision bombing drill with F-15K planes from Seoul and F-16 planes from Washington.

A photo provided by the South Korean Ministry of Defense shows South Korean F-15K fighters (rear) flying over South Korea. (Photo: EFE) (South Korean Defense Ministry HA/)

“North Korea’s recent series of actions, including its persistent and escalating launches, threaten the peace and security of the region and the world, and are a serious challenge to the entire international community, including our own country.Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada told reporters.

What is Pyongyang looking for?

Alarm over the recent North Korean launch is palpable. The internationalist specialized in Asia and professor at San Marcos University, Carlos Aquino, points out that the first thing this new essay means is that North Korea is restarting its ballistic activities with force, since it has already launched more missiles than in 2019.

“The most important thing about the missile launched on Tuesday is that it is the longest that Pyongyang has launched, the one that has traveled the furthest. It’s the first over Japan in five years and it’s raised quite a few fears, even though the missile passed thousands of miles from Japan, it’s still interesting because it’s a missile that can even hit Hawaii. The issue is that this is a long-range missile and it flies very high.”, he tells El Comercio.

“This act is quite provocative, first because these are not ordinary times. We have the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the growing confrontation between China and the United States with Taiwan as an important piece, the issue of the United States, Japan and South Korea reaffirming their alliance”, he adds.

“The Japan Times” recalls that only since September 25, North Korea has launched five times, firing a total of eight missiles. “It’s a frenetic pace that has revived memories of the ‘fire and fury’ period five years ago that some say brought the world to the brink of nuclear catastrophe.”.

Tokyo (Japan), 04/10/2022.- A pedestrian walks past a screen displaying news reporting of North Korea’s launch of a ballistic missile in Tokyo, Japan, 04 October 2022. North Korea launched a ballistic missile over Japan that landed in the Pacific Ocean, the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of Japan, about 3000km east of Japan. Japan issued the warning J-Alert to citizens after the missile launch. The display shows the vector of the North Korean missile from North Korea to the EZZ in the Pacific Ocean. Guam is shown at center bottom. (Japan, Tokyo) EFE/EPA/KIMIMASA MAYAMA (KIMIMASA MAYAMA/)

Aquino emphasizes that North Korea has a series of short, medium and long-range missiles and the new launch shows that the Kim Jong-un regime “continues in this attempt to develop missiles that practically cover Japan, Hawaii and Guam, where the largest military instances of the United States in the Pacific are located, in addition to being able to protect North Korea itself”.

The analyzes also suggest that Pyongyang’s new launch would be a response to the joint maneuvers in the Sea of ​​Japan that Tokyo, Washington and Seoul carried out last week to “counter North Korean weapons development of SLBMs (ballistic missiles that are fired from a missile). submersible)”, in which the American aircraft carrier USS “Ronald Reagan” participated.

Nuclear threat and clear warning

Behind the alarm over Tuesday’s launch is the threat of a possible nuclear attack. These types of missiles are capable of carrying nuclear warheads, which means that targets such as South Korea, Japan and Guam -where there are US military bases- remain within reach of Pyongyang, which has so far carried out six nuclear weapons tests, the last in 2017.

In fact, long-range weapons tests are prohibited by UN Security Council resolutions. After the North Korean test, the United States requested an urgent meeting of the UN. According to the AFP agency, senior officials in Washington and Seoul have been warning for months that Kim Jong-un is preparing a new nuclear test.

The trajectory of the missile fired by North Korea. (AFP).

“What is most worrying is that this could be the prelude to what would be another nuclear explosion, because in 2016 and 2017 North Korea carried out six nuclear tests and its objective with these missiles and with nuclear bombs is to develop small atomic bombs that can be put on a missile. Everything indicates that this nuclear test could be carried out after the National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party that begins on October 16, so everything indicates that these are preparations and tests to be able to make that missile.”, says Aquinas.

The spokeswoman for the US National Security Council, Adrienne Watson, stated that “The United States will continue its efforts to limit North Korea’s ability to advance its banned ballistic missile and weapons of mass destruction programs, including with allies and UN partners.”.

The expert adds that at the beginning of this month North Korea established in its Constitution that it is a nuclear State and that any conversation and negotiation that seeks denuclearization is ruled out. They also did not rule out a pre-emptive strike with nuclear weapons if they believe their country is under threat, indicating that North Korea will continue to test its missiles.

“The idea is to develop a nuclear capability and not to prevent an attack – because you don’t need nuclear weapons for that. What North Korea is seeking is the reunification of the peninsula, obviously under its own terms, they want the US military bases to leave and achieve military superiority over South Korea not in conventional weapons, but in this type of missile , especially in atomic bombs. He wants to escalate so much and sow so much fear that he could use an atomic bomb so that the United States leaves them alone with South Korea and attack there.”, he concludes.

Source: Elcomercio