North Korea carried out a double missile launch earlier this week. The North Korean regime celebrated this weekend the birthday of Kim Jong-il, father of the current leader. On this occasion, the regime launched a short-range ballistic missile, but just a few hours later a second missile, this time intercontinental, was launched. This is the fifth such shooting in a year, a record.
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North Korea fired at least one ballistic missile on Monday, December 18, as the South Korean military announced, just hours after another launch of a short-range missile late at night. Shot from the suburbs of the capital Pyongyang, this missile is the last shot like this since July. The regime then launched its largest missile, the solid-fueled Hwaseong 18. A new technology that the regime has been developing for a year. At this stage, it has not been determined whether the firing on Monday, December 18 was also solid fuel, says our correspondent in Seoul, Celio Fioretti.
This missile launch comes as an American nuclear submarine is currently stopping at the port of Busan in South Korea. Provoking, North Korea set the flight distance to match the submarine’s location, sending a message that Pyongyang is capable of striking with precision.
The missile however, crashed into the Sea of Japan, far from the port of Busan. It was probably an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of flying more than 15,000 km and therefore reaching ” the entire territory of the United States “, said a senior official from the Japanese Ministry of Defense despite everything.
“ Serious threat to peace and security »
In a joint report, Seoul and Washington condemned the missile launches, which “ pose a serious threat to the peace and security of the Korean Peninsula and the international community », Underlined the South Korean presidency in a press release published after an emergency meeting of the National Security Council on Monday.
In a statement, the spokesperson for the US State Department indicated that “ These launches, like other ballistic missile launches by Pyongyang this year, constitute a violation of several United Nations Security Council resolutions “. With their Japanese partner, they promised to provide a response to these launches, without giving further details.
#DefenseofJapan
North Korea’s military activities pose an even more serious and imminent threat to Japan’s national security than ever before. Last year, North Korea repeatedly launched ICBM-class ballistic missiles and other missiles…1/2 pic.twitter.com/pCd37IauoY— Japan Ministry of Defense/Self-Defense Forces (@ModJapan_en) December 18, 2023
On Friday, December 15, the United States and South Korea participated in the second session of the Nuclear Advisory Group in Washington, focusing on nuclear deterrence in the event of conflict with the North. It was on this occasion that the White House warned that any nuclear attack by Pyongyang would put an end to Kim Jong-un’s regime.
In response, on Sunday, December 17, a spokesperson for the North Korean Defense Ministry denounced a plan by the allies which aims to add, next year, a nuclear exercise to their annual joint military exercises. “ This is an open statement on the nuclear confrontation aimed at making the use of nuclear weapons against the DPRK a fait accompli », assured the ministry in a press release published by the official North Korean news agency KCNA.
China’s support for North Korea
For its part, China has brought its support for North Korea, being the main political and economic support of this reclusive country targeted by a multitude of international sanctions. “ In the face of international turbulence, China and North Korea have always firmly supported and trusted each other. », Said Wang Yi, the head of Chinese diplomacy, during a meeting in Beijing with North Korean Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Pak Myong Ho, according to a report from Chinese diplomacy.
“ The traditional friendship between China and (North Korea) established and maintained by the former leaders of the two countries is a valuable asset “, Wang Yi said again.
Read alsoNorth Korea creates public holiday to mark intercontinental missile launch
(And with AFP)