According to Japan’s prime minister, Yoshihide Suga, North Korea shot two ballistic missiles into the sea near Japan on Thursday, , raising tensions ahead of the Tokyo Olympics and placing pressure on the new Biden administration in Washington. The missile launches illustrate the danger North Korea’s illegal arms programme, poses to its neighbours and the international community, according to a statement released by the US military’s Indo-Pacific Command on Thursday. The command stated that it was keeping an eye on the situation and coordinating with allies.
North Korea is prohibited from testing ballistic missiles under the UN Security Council resolutions, and if the launch is verified, it will pose a new obstacle to President Joe Biden’s attempts to engage Pyongyang. According to the Japanese government, one missile travelled approximately 450 kilometres (280 miles) and landed outside of Japan’s exclusive economic zone, meaning that it was a short-range missile. “The first launch in less than a year poses a danger to peace and stability in Japan and the region, and it breaches UN resolutions, said Yoshihide Suga, Japan’s Prime Minister.
The launches were timed to coincide with the start of the Olympic torch relay in Japan on Thursday, kicking off a four-month countdown to the summer Games in Tokyo, which were postponed from 2020 due to the pandemic. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff previously stated that at least two “unidentified missiles” were shot into the sea between the Korean peninsula and Japan from North Korea’s east coast’s South Hamgyong Province. The JCS said in a statement that South Korean and the US intelligence agencies were analysing the launch data for additional details.
North Korea has not tested a nuclear weapon or its longest-range intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) since 2017, in preparation for a landmark meeting in 2018 between leader Kim Jong Un and former the US President Donald Trump. The US officials reported North Korea fired a new projectile, but offered no information on the number or type of projectile detected. The White House and State Department made no official statements. Analysts also noticed a change in language from the previous administration, emphasising the “denuclearization of North Korea” rather than the entire peninsula – a more unilateral stance that is likely to be unacceptable to Pyongyang.
The short-range ballistic missile tests will be a “step up” from the weekend test, allowing North Korea to upgrade its technology and react proportionally to recent US-South Korean military drills. The test launches need not derail diplomatic attempts, but they should serve as a reminder of the cost of failing to reach an agreement with Pyongyang. “Every day that goes by without an agreement to reduce the threats faced by North Korea’s nuclear and missile arsenal is a day that it grows bigger and badder,”stated Vipin Narang, a nuclear affairs expert at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States..
The Japanese coast guard warned ships not to approach any dropped items and requested that they provide information to the coast guard. The presidential Blue House in South Korea will call an emergency meeting of the national Security Council to address the launches. North Korea declared a moratorium on nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile testing in early 2018, but it maintains that it is no longer bounded by it, after talks with the Trump administration broke down. It has recently tested a number of new short-range missiles capable of threatening South Korea and the 28,500 US troops stationed there.
