North Korea fires ballistic missile, drawing tough response from Trump

SEOUL, South Korea (5th UPDATE) – North Korea on Sunday, February 12, fired a ballistic missile into the sea in an apparent test of new US President Donald Trump, who responded by pledging “100%” support for Washington’s key regional ally Japan.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, whose country would be in range of any hostile North Korean launch, called the test “absolutely intolerable” during an impromptu press conference with Trump in Florida.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, altering an earlier military assessment, said the test was “highly likely” to have been of a modified intermediate-range Musudan missile. 

The Musudan has a range of 2,500-4,000 km, meaning it could threaten both Japan and US bases on Guam.

The missile was launched around 7:55 am (2255 GMT Saturday) from Banghyon air base in the western province of North Pyongan, and flew east toward the Sea of Japan (East Sea), the South’s defense ministry said.

It flew about 500 kilometers (310 miles) before falling into the sea, a ministry spokesman said.

“Today’s missile launch… is aimed at drawing global attention to the North by boasting its nuclear and missile capabilities,” the ministry said in a statement.

“It is also believed that it was an armed provocation to test the response from the new US administration under President Trump,” it added.

It was the first such test since last October.

Trump, speaking alongside Abe, said Washington was committed to his country’s security.

“I just want everybody to understand and fully know that the United States of America stands behind Japan, its great ally, 100%,” he said, without elaborating.

Japan’s top government spokesman Yoshihide Suge told reporters in Tokyo the test was “clearly a provocation to Japan and the region.”

North Korea is barred under UN resolutions from any use of ballistic missile technology. But 6 sets of UN sanctions since Pyongyang’s first nuclear test in 2006 have failed to halt its drive for what it insists are defensive weapons.

Last year the country conducted two nuclear tests and numerous missile launches in its quest to develop a nuclear weapons system capable of hitting the US mainland.

Seoul-based academic Yang Moo-Jin said the latest test was “a celebratory launch” to mark the February 16 birthday of Kim Jong-Il, late ruler and father of current leader Kim Jong-Un.

‘Further threat’

Pyongyang often celebrates key anniversaries involving current and former leaders with missile launches, Yang, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies, told AFP. 

South Korea’s acting president Hwang Gyo-Ahn vowed a “corresponding punishment” in response to the launch, which came on the heels of a visit to Seoul by US Defense Secretary James Mattis this month.

Mattis had warned Pyongyang that any nuclear attack would be met with an “effective and overwhelming” response.

Trump’s national security adviser Michael Flynn spoke to his South Korean counterpart Kim Kwan-Jin by phone and agreed to “seek all possible options” to curb future provocations by the North, Seoul’s presidential office said. 

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull also condemned the launch as a “further threat to regional… peace and stability” and vowed to work with Beijing, Seoul, and Tokyo to heap pressure on Pyongyang.

The European Union noted that the test violated multiple UN Security Council resolutions.

“The DPRK’s (North Korea’s) repeated disregard of its international obligations is provocative and unacceptable,” it said in a statement. France separately joined in the condemnation.

In January, leader Kim Jong-Un boasted that Pyongyang was in the “final stages” of developing an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in an apparent attempt to pressure the incoming US president. Trump shot back on Twitter, saying “It won’t happen.”

James Char, senior analyst at the Institute of Defense and Strategic Studies in Singapore, said the launch was Pyongyang’s “way of showing characteristic defiance against… Trump.”

The latest launch poses a test for Trump, who will need the help of the North’s closest ally China to deal with the reclusive state.

Relations have thawed in recent days after Trump reaffirmed Washington’s “One China” policy in what he described as a “very warm” telephone conversation with President Xi Jinping. – Rappler.com