NK fires missiles and scraps all SK agreements
Print Edition
NORTH Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the sea yesterday in defiance of a UN Security Council resolution, as South Korean and US forces conducted massive war games.
North Korea also announced that it had scrapped all agreements with South Korea on commercial exchange projects and would “liquidate” South Korean assets on its territory.
North Korea has a large stockpile of short-range missiles and is developing long-range and intercontinental missiles as well. The missiles fired yesterday flew about 500 kilometers off its east coast city of Wonsan and were likely from the Soviet-developed Scud series, South Korea’s defense ministry said.
Japan, which is within range of the longer-range variant of Scud missiles or upgraded Rodong missiles, lodged a protest through the North Korean embassy in Beijing, Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported.
North Korea often fires short-range missiles when tensions rise on the Korean Peninsula. Pyongyang gets particularly upset about the annual US-South Korea drills, which it says are preparations for an invasion.
The US and South Korea remain technically at war with North Korea because the 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armed truce instead of a peace agreement.
Around 17,000 US military personnel are taking part alongside some 300,000 South Korean troops in what South Korea’s defense ministry has called the “largest-ever” joint military exercises.
North Korea warned on Sunday it would make a “preemptive and offensive nuclear strike” in response to the exercises.
The announcement that North Korea would liquidate South Korean assets left behind in the Kaesong industrial zone and in the Mount Kumgang tourist zone followed yesterday’s missile launches.
South Korea suspended operations in the jointly-run zone last month as punishment for a rocket launch and nuclear test.
Mount Kumgang was the first major inter-Korean cooperation project. Thousands of South Koreans visited the resort between 1998 and 2008. Seoul ended the tours in 2008 after a North Korean soldier shot dead a South Korean tourist who had wandered into a restricted zone.
North Korea is also angry about stricter UN sanctions adopted last week.
South Korea’s foreign ministry said yesterday’s launches violated a series of UN Security Council resolutions and it would refer the matter to the council’s sanctions committee mandated to enforce the resolutions.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei described the situation on the Korean Peninsula as “complex and sensitive.”
“All sides should stop their provocative words and deeds to avoid a further rise in tensions,” he said.
On Wednesday, state media reported that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his country had miniaturized nuclear warheads to mount on ballistic missiles, and called on his military to be prepared to mount preemptive attacks against the US and South Korea.
North Korea conducted its fourth nuclear test on January 6 but its claim to have set off a miniaturized hydrogen bomb last month has been disputed by the United States and South Korean governments and many military experts.
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