It was the second launch in just five days. A few hours before the presidential election in the United States, its great rival, North Korea fired a new salvo of short-range ballistic missiles Tuesday morning. An exercise which comes at a time when North Korea, which has nuclear weapons, is accused of having sent troops to Russia to fight Ukraine.
On Thursday, the totalitarian regime had already announced that it had tested its new solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), the most advanced in its arsenal. “In anticipation of further launches, our armed forces have strengthened their surveillance and vigilance,” South Korea said, indicating that it was sharing information with Tokyo and Washington.
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba confirmed to journalists in Tokyo the launch of “several ballistic missiles”, which “are estimated to have fallen outside” Japan's exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
Korea and the USA responded
The launches come after the defense ministers of the United States and South Korea called on Pyongyang to withdraw its troops from Russia, where, according to Washington, around 10,000 troops have been deployed for possible action against the Ukrainian forces, at war with the Russian army since 2022. In response, South Korea, Japan and the United States carried out a joint air exercise on Sunday involving a heavy bomber in response to the launch of the ICBM.
A way to divert attention?
American-South Korean military maneuvers never fail to irritate Pyongyang, which considers them a rehearsal for a future invasion of its territory. Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, said the exercise was “just a new explanation, based on action, of the most hostile and aggressive nature danger of the enemy towards our Republic”. The latter warned that any “disruption of the balance of power between rivals on the Korean Peninsula and in the region precisely means war.”
According to several experts, this series of weapons tests by Pyongyang could be an attempt to distract attention from its supposed troop deployment in Russia, or to rise to the forefront of concerns in the run-up to Tuesday's US elections. which pit Donald Trump against Kamala Harris.
