North Korea Conducts Ninth Missile Test Of The Year Ahead Of South Korean Elections

Rocket launch condemned by South Korea, Japan, USA
South Korea says it closely monitors North’s nuclear facilities
North Korea appears to be gearing up for major weapons test – analysts
South Korea to hold presidential election on Wednesday

SEOUL, March 5 – North Korea conducted its ninth weapons test of the year on Saturday, firing what appears to be a ballistic missile seaward east of the Korean Peninsula just days before South Korea’s presidential election.

The launch drew condemnation from the US, South Korean and Japanese governments, who fear the North is preparing to conduct major weapons tests in the coming months.

As denuclearization talks stalled, North Korea conducted a record number of missile launches in January and, after a pause that lasted for most of February, resumed testing on February 27.

It appears to be preparing to launch a spy satellite in the near future and has suggested it may resume testing nuclear weapons or its longest-range intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) for the first time since 2017.

“The significant pace at which North Korea is developing its missile launch technologies is not something that our country and the surrounding regions cannot lose sight of,” Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi said after the latest launch.

In South Korea, where citizens are already voting early ahead of Wednesday’s presidential election, the National Security Council (NSC) condemned North Korea’s “unprecedented repeated ballistic missile launches” as a violation of peace and stability on the Korean peninsula.

South Korea will “even more closely monitor North Korea’s nuclear and missile facilities,” including its main nuclear reactor at Yongbyon and the nuclear weapons test site at Pungeri, the NSC said in a statement, the President’s Blue House said in a statement.

It did not immediately become clear what prompted the intensification of surveillance of nuclear facilities.

On Friday, the US-based Project 38 North, which controls North Korea, said operations at Yongbyon were well under way, producing fuel for potential nuclear weapons and expanding its nuclear manufacturing capacity.

Pungeri was closed after North Korea announced a voluntary moratorium on nuclear weapons testing in 2018. However, leader Kim Jong-un said he no longer feels bound by the moratorium as denuclearization talks stalled.

A North Korean flag flies outside the North Korean embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on March 19, 2021. REUTERS/Lim Huey Teng

South Korea has reported a series of small natural earthquakes near Pungeri this year, highlighting what experts say is geological instability caused by the latest and largest nuclear test in 2017. Experts also said the instability would not necessarily prevent North Korea from resuming tests at the site.

ROCKET TESTS

The US State Department condemned the latest launch as a violation of UN Security Council resolutions that imposed sanctions on North Korea over its weapons programs.

The launch demonstrates the threat that North Korea’s illicit weapons of mass destruction and missile programs pose to its neighbors and the wider region, a State Department spokesman said.

The South Korean military said Saturday’s launch came from a site near Sunan, where Pyongyang International Airport is located. The region has been the site of previous tests, including the most recent launch on Feb. 27, when North Korea said it was testing spy satellite systems. More

Kishi said the North Korean projectile reached an altitude of 550 kilometers (340 miles) and traveled 300 kilometers (190 miles), matching the South Korean military’s estimate of 560 kilometers in altitude and a range of 270 kilometers. More

The launch highlights the challenges facing whoever wins Wednesday’s presidential election in South Korea. More

Both leading candidates have said they will release road maps to try to kick-start stalled talks, but have also raised the possibility of a harder line, from more openly recognizing the North’s missile tests as “provocations” to building up military capability to launch pre-emptive strikes. if necessary to counter an immediate threat.

Analysts say North Korea could use South Korea’s upcoming presidential change or a big national holiday on April 15 to launch a satellite or test-fire a major new missile or other weapon.

“The timing of North Korea’s missile tests may seem odd to us given the global focus on Ukraine,” Jean Lee, a research fellow at the Wilson Center in Washington, tweeted. “But it makes sense in North Korea, where scientists are focused on a brand new weapon that Kim will be able to show off at a big military parade in mid-April.”

The United States has said it is open to talks without preconditions, but Pyongyang says talks are possible only after Washington and its allies abandon hostile policies.

Reporting by Joyce Lee and Josh Smith in Seoul, Sakura Murakami in Tokyo; Edited by Sandra Mahler, Jane Wardell, William Mullard and Kim Coghill.

Our Standards: Trust Principles.