North Korea fired at least two ballistic missiles on Sunday (Dec. 4), just hours before the South Korean president’s visit to China.
The launch marks the country’s first missile test in two months and has drawn sharp criticism from both South Korea and Japan.
“Such ballistic missile launches violate relevant UN Security Council resolutions and constitute a serious issue concerning the safety of our citizens. Japan has launched a stern protest and strongly condemned North Korea’s missile launch through the embassy route in Beijing,” Japan’s Defense Minister Shinjirō Koizumi said.
“The Ministry of Defense will continue to work closely with the United States, South Korea and other parties to protect the lives and property of our people by dedicating all efforts to information gathering, analysis and vigilance.”
The missiles were fired into the sea between the Koreas and Japan, flying 550 miles according to South Korea and Japan.
Analysts say the launch may have been a message to China, signaling opposition to closer ties with South Korea and its denuclearization stance.
South Korea held an emergency meeting and called on North Korea to stop provocative acts that violate United Nations resolutions.
In recent weeks, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has visited weapons factories, overseen missile tests and toured a nuclear-powered submarine. These actions come ahead of the country’s 9th Party Congress, which will outline major policy goals.
South Korea hopes China will help promote peace on the Korean Peninsula during President Lee Jae Myung’s meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
US Unlikely to Take Out North Korean Leader: Analyst
NTD asked US geopolitical analyst and senior national security editor of “The National Interest” Brandon Weichert, about the timing of the ballistic missile launch by North Korea.
“Well, you’re right to point out this upcoming visit by the South Korean leadership to China, but I actually think this is probably more in connection to the Venezuela strike,” Weichert said.
“I think Kim Jong-un is reminding President Trump that unlike Maduro’s regime in Venezuela, North Korea has a wider range of weapons that could seriously complicate any US military efforts to remove Kim Jong-un from power.”
“Yes, they’re also upset about this meeting between China and South Korea, and they’re also concerned about the coming People’s Congress,” he said. “But really, they’re letting everybody know we will not go down the way Maduro did.”
North Korea’s state media reported that leader Kim Jong-un on Saturday called for more than doubling tactical guided weapons productions.
Weichert told NTD that North Korea’s nuclear weapons act as deterrence for Kim to be taken out by the US.
He said after the US invaded Iraq in 2003 and took out Saddam, the North Koreans went on a binge over many years of building up their systems. “They are very worried. And then, of course, after Libya, we took out Gaddafi,” Weichert said.
“The regime there is very worried that the same fate will befall them, so they’re going to do whatever they can to basically make themselves a porcupine,” Weichert told NTD. “And I think it’s working, because I don’t think anybody is very intent on taking out Kim Jong-un’s regime, if only because of the blowback of what could happen with all these weapons.”
“Either they’d be launched at our forces, or even more scary over time, they would be leeched into the global arms market, the black market, and could end up in the hands of terrorists.”
“I don’t think Trump is too keen on taking him out because of the nuclear arsenal,” he added.
