North fires 2 SRBMs Sunday, 7th volley in 2 weeks

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North fires 2 SRBMs Sunday, 7th volley in 2 weeks

Passengers at Seoul Station on Sunday watch a television news broadcast about the North's early morning test of two short-range ballistic missiles (SRBM). [YONHAP]

Passengers at Seoul Station on Sunday watch a television news broadcast about the North's early morning test of two short-range ballistic missiles (SRBM). [YONHAP]

 
North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles (SRBM) into the East Sea in the early hours Sunday, according to military authorities in South Korea.
 
The first missile was launched from Munchon, Gangwon Province at 1:48 a.m., followed by a second at 1:58 a.m. The missiles flew approximately 350 kilometers (217 miles) at Mach 5, reaching altitudes of 90 kilometers, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said in a statement.
 
Based on their trajectories, the missiles are likely KN-25s, according to analysts quoted by Yonhap. The KN-25 is a tactical ballistic missile that is categorized by the allies as an SRBM as it has a larger payload and a greater range than most rocket artillery.  
 
South Korea's National Security Council strongly condemned the spate of ballistic missile tests by North Korea as a "clear violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions and an act that increases tension on the Korean Peninsula and in the region," according to a statement released by the presidential office.
 
The council added that South Korea's military will bolster its joint defense posture through additional joint exercises with the United States and increase security cooperation with the United States and Japan.
 
The latest test came a day before the North is due to celebrate the founding of its ruling Workers' Party, and is the seventh in a flurry of missile tests over the past two weeks.
 
The North launched one SRBM on Sept. 25, two on Sept. 28, another pair on Sept. 29, followed by two more on Oct. 1 and two on Thursday.
 
Within hours of firing the two SRBMs on Thursday, North Korea flew eight fighter jets and four bombers toward the to the inter-Korean border, prompting the South Korean military to scramble about 30 jets.  
 
Pyongyang also launched what experts believe was a Hwasong-12 intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) over Japan into the Pacific on Tuesday, triggering the Japanese emergency alert system (J-Alert) for the first time since August 2017, when the North last fired a Hwasong-12 over the country.
 
In response to the IRBM test, South Korea and the United States each launched two U.S.-made Army Tactical Missile System (Atacms) surface-to-surface missiles in the early hours of Wednesday, which accurately hit mock targets and demonstrated the ability of the allies to respond, according to the JCS.
 
On Saturday, a few hours before the most recent test, the North's National Aviation Administration defended the ongoing launches as "a regular and planned self-defensive" action to "defend the country's security and the regional peace from the U.S. direct military threats that have lasted for more than half a century."
 
The North Korean agency's statement was in response to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) describing the North's continued launching of ballistic missiles over or near international air routes as a serious threat to the safety of civil aviation.
 
An unnamed spokesperson for the North's defense ministry issued a statement on Saturday through Pyongyang's state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) saying it is "gravely" monitoring joint naval exercises between South Korea and the United States involving the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, which it labelled "a military bluff."
 
"The nuclear-powered USS Ronald Reagan has conspired with the South Korean naval vessels to execute joint sea drills against our nation," the spokesperson told KCNA.
 
Together, the comments are the first official acknowledgement from Pyongyang that the recent missile launches are its response to the presence of the USS Ronald Reagan, which was on its way out from the East Sea after concluding joint naval exercises with the South Korean Navy before making a U-turn as a result of the North's continuing missile launches.
 
Some experts see the recent moves by Pyongyang as a form of brinkmanship aimed at forcing the United States and South Korea to abandon their hardline defensive posture.
 
"North Korean provocations using air force power are a very new phenomenon and are intended to create a wider spectrum of tensions," said Park Won-gon, professor of North Korean studies at Ewha Womans University.  
 
"By launching various types of missiles from various locations and mobilizing its air force as well, North Korea's intention is to make it difficult for South Korea, the United States and Japan to prepare for provocations from the North together."
 
Lim Eul-chul, a professor of North Korean studies at Kyungnam University's Institute for Far Eastern Studies, said Pyongyang's latest actions "are attempts to worsen the security crisis on the Korean Peninsula and neutralize the Yoon Suk-yeol administration's hardline policy toward North Korea.
 
"Pyongyang is sending a signal that it is willing to compete head-to-head against U.S. strategic assets," he added.  
 
 
 
 
 

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]
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