North Korea has fired a suspected missile into the ocean, officials in South Korea and Japan said, shortly before Pyongyang’s representative told the United Nations.
The country had the “righteous right” to check weapons due to the “hostile” policies directed against it.
In an emergency National Security Council meeting, the South Korean government expressed regret over what it called “a short-range missile launch at a time when political stability on Korea is extremely critical”.
South Korea’s military earlier said a projectile fired from North Korea’s mountainous northern Jagang province at about 6:40 am civil time (21:40 GMT) flew towards the North’s eastern sea.
Details of the launch were being analyzed by South Korean and US authorities. But Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said North Korea fired “what might be a ballistic missile” which his government had stepped up its vigilance and surveillance.
It is the third launch this month after Pyongyang previously tested a “strategic” aircraft and two railway-borne ballistic missiles. The North is banned from conducting missile tests under United Nations sanctions imposed over the nuclear-armed country’s weapons program.
The US State Department condemned the launch and urged Pyongyang to interact in dialogue.
“This launch is in violation of multiple UN Security Council Resolutions and poses a threat to the DPRK’s neighbors and therefore the international community,” it said during a statement. “We remain committed to a diplomatic approach to the DPRK and turn them to interact in dialogue.”
The launch happened but an hour before North Korea’s UN envoy, Kim Song addressed the organization’s annual meeting in NY.
Kim told the UN that Pyongyang had a “righteous right to self-defense” to develop weapons.
“We are just build up our national defense so as to defend ourselves and reliably safeguard the safety and peace of the country,” he said, noting the US had nearly 30,000 troops stationed within the South which there had been no formal treaty to finish the Korean War.
The North invaded the South in 1950 and fighting came to an end three years later with an armistice, leaving the 2 countries technically still during a state of conflict.
If the US gave up its hostility, North Korea would “respond willingly at any time”, Kim told UN delegates in his speech.
“But it’s our judgment that there’s no prospect at this stage for the US to actually withdraw its hostile policy.”
Testing relations
US President Joe Biden initiated a review of the country’s North Korean policies after taking office in January. Washington has said while it’s able to hold talks with Pyongyang anywhere at any time there’ll be no “grand bargain”.
In recent days, Pyongyang has given the impression it’d be able to resume engagement with Seoul after South Korean President Moon Jae-in used his address to the UN last week to reiterate his longstanding involves a proper declaration of an end to the Korean War.
On Saturday, Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and a key adviser, said Pyongyang was willing to think about an inter-Korean summit on the idea of mutual “respect” and “impartiality”. each day earlier she had said the North was hospitable resuming talks with South Korea if it dropped its “hostile” stance.
The South has also been enhancing its military arsenal.
On an equivalent day that Pyongyang tested its railway-launched weapon, South Korea tested its first underwater-launched missile (SLBM), On Tuesday, the Navy planned to launch its third submarine capable of firing ballistic missiles, Yonhap said. The 3,000-tonne vessel is going to be ready to carry 50 crew and remain underwater for 20 days.
Some experts say the North is testing Seoul’s commitment to improving the connection between the 2 countries.
“It seems like North Korea wants to ascertain how genuine Seoul is when it involves its willingness to enhance inter-Korean ties – and to officially end the Korean War,” Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies, told the AFP press agency.
“Pyongyang will monitor and study Moon’s reaction after today’s launch and choose what they need to try to do,” he added.
US-led talks on denuclearisation are stalled since the collapse of a 2019 summit between then-President Donald Trump and Kim. A key issue is that the North’s demand for relief over the sanctions imposed as a result of its nuclear and missile tests.
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