Japan's Ground Self-Defence Force soldiers check Patriot Advanced Capability-3 missile interceptor units to counter North Korea's possible launch of ballistic missiles at the Defence Ministry in Tokyo.
SEOUL: North Korea fired its sixth short-range missile in three days yesterday, defying warnings from UN chief Ban Ki-moon and South Korea after a flurry of similar tests at the weekend.
The latest firing was confirmed by the South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), who said it was unclear if the North was testing guided missiles or rockets from multiple launchers.
“North Korea launched two projectiles yesterday — one in the morning and the other in the afternoon,” a JCS spokesman said.
Such drills are not unusual but they come as the Korean peninsula is only just emerging from a period of particularly elevated military tensions triggered by the North’s nuclear test in February.
In a statement yesterday, Pyongyang angrily rejected criticism that the missile exercises were a deliberate attempt to kick off a fresh cycle of tensions.
“Military training ... is the indisputable right of any sovereign nation,” the North’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea said.
“Viciously taking issue with our military’s rocket firing training ... is an unacceptable challenge and a wanton provocation,” it said.
North Korea fired three short-range guided missiles off its east coast on Saturday and another on Sunday.
South Korea had labelled the weekend tests “deplorable”, while UN chief Ban Ki-moon urged Pyongyang to exercise restraint.
“It is time for them to resume dialogue and lower the tensions,” Ban said in Moscow on Sunday.
North Korea argues that the real provocation is coming from South Korea and the United States, which have carried out a series of small and large-scale joint military drills in recent months.
Yesterday, South Korea’s President Park Geun-Hye’s top security advisor, Kim Jang-Soo, again urged Pyongyang to desist from any more drills.
“Whether it’s just a test or a show of force, the North should not get involved in actions that create tension,” Kim said.
At one point, North Korea had been primed to test a pair of medium-range missiles, but US intelligence said the weapons were removed from their launch pads in early May.
The most significant fallout from the recent months of sabre-rattling has been the withdrawal of both sides from the Kaesong joint industrial park which lies 10 kilometres over the border in North Korea.
South Korea has proposed formal talks on recovering stockpiles of raw materials and finished goods the South Korean firms left behind, but Pyongyang yesterday suggested any dialogue should focus on the overall future of the project.
“A more pressing issue than removing the finished goods is whether the complex will collapse or not,” said a spokesman for the North side of the management committee that runs Kaesong.
Neither of the two Koreas has officially declared the complex closed, and Seoul has continued to supply a minimum amount of electricity.
Owners of the South Korean firms in the complex yesterday said they were the victims of a fight between Seoul and Pyongyang.
AFP
