North Korea blasts imminent start of U.S.-led trilateral missile data-sharing system

North Korea

Published: 14 Dec. 2023, 15:24 Updated: 14 Dec. 2023, 15:26

North Korea blasts imminent start of U.S.-led trilateral missile data-sharing system

North Korea fires a short-range ballistic missile toward the East Sea as it conducts a tactical nuclear strike drill simulating attacks against major command centers and airfields in South Korea on Aug. 30, in a photo carried by state media the next day. [YONHAP]

North Korea slammed on Thursday a plan by South Korea, the United States and Japan to commence a real-time trilateral missile warning data-sharing system later this month.

The North's state-run Rodong Sinmun said the U.S.-led trilateral sharing of missile warning data was "an extremely dangerous military act that is clearly aimed at pushing the regional political situation into a more intimidating confrontation."

It claimed the system, which it said shares information for a "pre-emptive strike," is a pretext for "lighting the fuse of a war to invade the North" and suppressing neighboring countries and gaining regional hegemony, apparently referencing China and Russia.

Amid an increasing geopolitical divide, especially over Russia's war on Ukraine, Pyongyang is seemingly growing closer to its traditional allies, Beijing and Moscow, while Seoul has strengthened its trilateral security cooperation with Washington and Tokyo.

The report comes after a White House National Security Council (NSC) official said Wednesday that a trilateral system for the real-time sharing of North Korean ballistic missile warning data is "on track" to become operational "within the next few days."

The system is in keeping with an agreement made at the historic summit at Camp David in August between South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to strengthen trilateral cooperation in response to North Korea's nuclear and missile threats.

"We are on track to make good on our promise to be sharing real-time missile warning data by the end of this year, and in fact, expect that to be operational within the next few days," Mira Rapp-Hooper, U.S. NSC senior director for East Asia and Oceania, said in a keynote speech at a forum hosted by the Brookings Institution think tank in Washington.

In a joint statement, the "Camp David Spirit," the three countries' leaders said they "intend to operationalize our sharing of missile warning data on the DPRK in real-time" by the end of this year. The DPRK is an acronym for the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Through the "Commitment to Consult," the leaders agreed to share information, align messaging and coordinate response actions to regional challenges, provocations and threats affecting their collective interests and security.

The South Korean, U.S. and Japanese leaders first agreed to such a warning system through a joint statement in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, in November last year, which enabled the three countries to take initial steps to test their technical capabilities for real-time sharing of missile data.

Missile warning data refers to military information collected between the launch and landing of a North Korean missile by mobilizing all reconnaissance assets. Until now, the three countries have conducted annual missile warning exercises at sea deploying Aegis destroyers but have not shared warning data in real-time trilaterally. Instead, the United States shared data bilaterally with its allies, South Korea and Japan.

The South Korean military generally collects relevant information using the ground-based Green Pine radar systems and the Peace Eye airborne early warning and control planes, and U.S. Forces Korea shares data collected through their reconnaissance satellites in real-time. Japan also uses its own Aegis destroyers, military radar and satellites to monitor North Korea's missile launches and shares information with U.S. Forces Japan.

For the three-way sharing of missile data, it was necessary to establish a system in which Seoul and Tokyo can directly exchange information, and such preparation appears to be completed.

Mira Rapp-Hooper, White House National Security Council senior director for East Asia and Oceania, speaks on trilateral cooperation with South Korea and Japan at a forum hosted by the Brookings Institution in Washington on Wednesday. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

"We've seen Japan-Korea relations ebb and flow in the past, and we are all committed to ensuring that this time is different and that these forms of cooperation are here to stay," Hooper said, addressing Seoul and Tokyo's diplomatic relations, which has faced rocky patches due to unresolved history issues stemming from Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule over Korea.

She noted that the "deliverables at Camp David were actually designed to help all three of our systems build resilience so that we will be better able to withstand political change or adverse circumstances in the future."

Hooper serves as special assistant to the president and is the White House's top adviser responsible for coordinating U.S. policy toward the Indo-Pacific region. She has led the White House's Indo-Pacific Strategy, trilateral relations with Seoul and Washington and the management of the U.S.-led Quad partnership with Australia, India and Japan.

Such initiatives and partnerships have been seen as a part of U.S. efforts to contain China's rising assertiveness in the region and keep other authoritarian powers in check.

"One of the things that makes this time different is that the world has changed, the security environment has changed around both Japan and the ROK [Republic of Korea]," Hooper said.

"That's true when it comes to countering the DPRK's increasing advanced missile and nuclear capabilities, to countering China's assertiveness in the region," she said, as well as issues related to economic security and technology protection where "indeed there is quite a lot of common interest."

Hooper said that the "arrows were pointing in the direction that the ROK and Japan will be better and stronger together than they could be apart" as the two countries' people have "increasingly come to recognize that they share much more in common than what divides them."

All three countries will serve on the United Nations Security Council next year, which Hooper said "creates a new trilateral mechanism" that they have been "planning for," as it presents opportunities in dealing with North Korea and Russia's possible violations of UN resolutions.

U.S. officials have accused North Korea and Russia of engaging in illegal arms deals and other sanctions violations.

The Rodong Sinmun, in a separate report Thursday, flaunted its launch of a military spy satellite launch last month, the commissioning of a submarine capable of carrying out an underwater nuclear attack in September and its growing cooperation with Russia as its biggest accomplishments of the year.

A South Korean Unification Ministry official told reporters Thursday regarding the North's report on trilateral data sharing, "We regret that North Korea is criticizing the legitimate security cooperation between South Korea, the United States and Japan for countering the North's grave threats, engaging in reckless provocations in violation of UN Security Council's resolutions, including development of illegal missiles."

South Korean National Security Adviser Cho Tae-yong, U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and Japanese National Security Secretariat Secretary General Takeo Akiba held a three-way meeting in Seoul last Saturday in keeping with the Camp David summit.

In a joint press conference after their talks, Cho said they discussed real-time sharing of North Korean missile warning data and establishing multiyear plans for three-way military training exercises.

BY SARAH KIM [kim.sarah@joongang.co.kr]