It is the fifth release in the last 10 days, and the most provocative. While Tokyo warned the population to take refuge, the missile sank in the Pacific after traveling 4,500 kilometers. The tone of the statements against Seoul, increasingly harsh.
Tokyo () – While the authorities warned the population for him to take refuge as soon as possible, Japan trembled again. Tonight, North Korea launched a missile that flew over the northern Japanese archipelago to then sink beyond the eastern seaboard into the Pacific Ocean. According to the first reconstructions, the North Korean rocket flew for about 22 minutes, covering a distance of 4,500 km. To date, this is the greatest range demonstrated by the North Korean government, although experts claim that the missiles it possesses can cover much greater distances. The last North Korean missile test that had flown over Japan was in 2017.
This is Pyongyang’s fifth missile launch in the last 10 days, and the most provocative. The sequence began on September 25a few days after the US aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan arrived in Busan, South Korea, and continued in the following days as Vice President Kamala Harris I was visiting the country. The frequency of the tests is remarkable even for an already exceptional year like 2022, during which North Korea conducted no fewer than 37 ballistic missile launches. The previous record was in 2019, with 25 tests.
Pyongyang’s series of missile launches comes at a very sensitive time. Last week, the South Korean and US navies resumed joint exercises which had been suspended for five years during the intense phase of talks and diplomatic meetings between Kim Jong Un, Donald Trump and former South Korean President Moon Jae-in. Nevertheless, with the return of the conservatives to the government in Seoul, military exercises resumed.
These joint maneuvers were later joined by the Japanese navy. The three countries carried out new exercises to improve their interoperability in an attempt to bolster its defense capabilities against North Korean submarine activities.
Added to missile launches pyongyang propaganda, which in recent days has shown a harsh tone in its statements against South Korea. President Yoon Suk-yeol has been portrayed as “completely insane” who “attempts to take on a nuclear state while a ‘ruined empire’ gives him support.” uriminzokkiria North Korean propaganda website, writes that “Warmongers who have been frantically trying to blackmail Korea with reckless war are now ranting about the strength of the alliance, but it is really just the pitiful bravado of those who are terrified of our military might.
On the Korean peninsula, the situation has become increasingly complex in recent months and a crisis could be at the door. There is the risk of an imminent nuclear test -as the intelligence agencies of several countries have been predicting for a long time- for which the only thing missing is the approval of the North Korean government. Last month Pyongyang also passed a new Nuclear Doctrine, that allows the preventive use of its arsenal in case the security and stability of the regime are compromised. And as the situation gets complicated, the North decides cut communications with Seoul.
