Asia: North Korea fires ballistic missile again

North Korea launched a new ballistic missile early Tuesday, the South Korean army announced, its second launch in five days which comes a few hours before the American presidential election.

“North Korea fires an unidentified ballistic missile,” South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said, adding that an analysis was underway. The missile was fired off North Korea’s eastern coast toward the Sea of ​​Japan, also known as the East Sea, the South Korean military also said.

Tokyo confirmed the launch, with the prime minister’s office saying Pyongyang had “launched a suspected ballistic missile.” Nuclear-armed North Korea on Thursday tested what it said was its new solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), the most advanced in its arsenal.

Soldiers deployed to Russia

It was the Kim Jong-un regime’s first show of force since it was accused of sending thousands of troops to Russia. The shooting also came just hours after the defense chiefs of the United States and South Korea called on Pyongyang to withdraw its troops from Russia, where Washington says about 10,000 troops have been deployed in with a view to possible action against Ukrainian forces.

On Sunday, South Korea, Japan and the United States conducted a joint air exercise involving a heavy bomber in response to the ICBM launch. The exercise mobilized the American B-1B bomber, South Korean F-15K and KF-16 fighters as well as Japanese F-2 fighters.

American-South Korean military maneuvers never fail to irritate Pyongyang, which considers them a rehearsal for a future invasion of its territory.

«Nature agressive»

Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, said the exercise was “just a new, action-based explanation of the most hostile and dangerous aggressive nature of the enemy with regard to our Republic.

In a statement released Tuesday by North Korea’s KCNA news agency, Kim Yo-jong said the exercise was “absolute proof of the validity and urgency of the line of building nuclear forces that we have chosen and put into practice.

She warned that any “disruption of the balance of power between rivals on the Korean Peninsula and in the region precisely means war.” Experts have suggested that Pyongyang’s series of weapons tests could be an attempt to distract from its alleged troop deployment to Russia, or to elevate itself to the top of the agenda ahead of the US election.

Seoul could help Ukraine

Russia and North Korea, which view the United States as an existential enemy, have grown considerably closer since Vladimir Putin launched an assault on Ukraine in February 2022, with the two countries notably concluding a mutual defense agreement during the Russian president’s June visit to Pyongyang.

Pyongyang has been suspected for many months of supplying large quantities of shells to Russia as well as hundreds of missiles. Now, according to Washington, the North is also providing thousands of troops to fight in the conflict with Ukraine.

South Korea, a major arms exporter, has said it is exploring the possibility of sending weapons directly to Ukraine in response, something it has so far opposed in due to a long-standing national policy that prevented it from supplying weapons to countries engaged in active conflicts.

North Korea has not confirmed or denied the presence of troops in Russia, but in the first comment published in state media in late October, its deputy foreign minister said that if such a deployment were to take place , it would be consistent with international law.

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