North Korea today tested an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), marking its fifth launch of this type this year, a record number that underlines the progress of Pyongyang’s weapons program and the significant military escalation in the region.
Pyongyang, which in November announced that it was canceling a military treaty with Seoul to reduce tension in border areas due to criticism of the launch of its first spy satellite into orbit, has managed to normalize long-range projectile launches this year.
Likewise, visits by strategic assets to the peninsula have become a daily occurrence: on Sunday, the US nuclear-powered submarine USS Missouri arrived in the port of Busan, the umpteenth of its type – along with various Pentagon aircraft carriers and bombers. to arrive in South Korea in the last twelve months with the goal of exhibiting the deterrent scheme agreed upon by Washington and Seoul.
Several people follow the news on television in Seoul about the launch of a new North Korean missile on December 18. EFE/EPA/Jeon Heon-Kyun
Military muscle display
In the midst of all this display of military muscle, 2023 closes with the certainty that, after the end of the dialogue stage in 2019, the policy of admonitions and sanctions seems to have less and less effect on the North Korean regime, which is year has released another string of weapons innovations (a nuclear torpedo, a submarine with the capacity to launch several ballistic missiles, its first spy satellite or its first solid fuel ICBM).
All this inventory adds up to an increasingly complete arsenal, which makes the ability to launch preemptive strikes by allies increasingly limited.
To this we must add that Pyongyang has chosen to strengthen its ties with Beijing and Moscow, which have vetoed new sanctions against the regime and seem to provide it with certain security guarantees in a global framework marked by the wars in Israel and Ukraine and the growing acrimony between autocracies and states that consider themselves democratic.
Shot from the Pyongyang area
After the launch, the South Korean army reported having detected an ICBM missile “fired from the Pyongyang area into the East Sea (the name given to the Sea of Japan in the two Koreas) around 8:24 (23:24 GMT on Sunday)” that moved at an open angle and landed in the water after flying about 1,000 kilometers.
The head of South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) in a statement regarding North Korea’s latest missile launch at the JCS headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, on December 18. EFE/EPA/Yonhap
For its part, the Japanese Government confirmed the time of the launch, adding that it fell around 9:37 (00:37 GMT) outside the special economic zone (EEZ) of the Asian country, 250 kilometers west of the island of Okushiri, next to Hokkaido ( north of the country), and said that the projectile reached a maximum altitude of about 6,000 kilometers.
According to this Japanese estimate, the projectile would have a potential range of about 15,000 kilometers, enough to reach North and Central America from North Korea, as well as part of South America.
“The Republic of Korea (official name of the South), the United States and Japan have been prepared for joint detection and monitoring (of the launch), and the three parties have closely shared information alerts on the ballistic missile launched by North Korea,” added the southern Army.
New information sharing system
In a new example of the strengthening of relations – especially with regard to security – at the trilateral level, Seoul, Tokyo and Washington had stated in previous days that their system for sharing information in real time on North Korean launches was going to be put into operation imminent.
The day before, when North Korea launched another short-range ballistic missile, South Korean and Japanese military authorities sent their first alerts simultaneously, which indicates that the aforementioned exchange framework is now operational.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol made precise reference to this system during the emergency meeting held today by the National Security Council (NSC) in Seoul.
For his part, the Prime Minister of Japan, Fumio Kishida, condemned the launch and, like the South Korean Government and army, recalled that it represents “a violation of UN resolutions, and a threat to peace and security.” region of”. With EFE
