A projectile is launched on Thursday (25/7) during a military drill in N. Korea. (Image: The Japan Times)

Due to denuclearization stalemate, N. Korea fires projectiles again

Alfonsus Adi Putra
Politics & Economic
Politics
Jul 25, 2019
2544
North Korea (N. Korea) grew tired and bored of the denuclearization talks that have not reached any agreeable solution. Therefore, on Thursday (25/7), N. Korea decided to fire 2 short-range projectiles from the Hodo Peninsula, Wonsan, the eastern coast of N. Korea, to the East Sea or the Sea of Japan, according to a report by South Korean (S. Korea) Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The projectiles were fired at about 23-minute intervals in between: first was fired at 05.34 a.m., and the second was fired at 05.57 a.m. local time.

Both the U.S and S. Korean intelligence were sorting the firing out. In the initial report, both missiles flew 430 km and elevated to 50 km altitude before sinking into the East Sea.

However, after a closer and deeper analysis, one of the projectiles seemed to be of a new design and it traveled a quite long distance, 690 km. The first projectile only flew 430 km.

S. Korean Ministry of Defense was in an uproar after the projectile incident. The Ministry accused N. Korea of undermining the trial of peace throughout the Korean Peninsula, alleviating tensions by firing 2 projectiles, especially by the fact that one of which was a new type of missile.

Meanwhile, the Japanese Ministry of Defense stated that its national security was unbothered by the missile.

Pyongyang refused to give any comment about the firing, and it was uncertain that the Supreme Leader of N. Korea was overseeing the firing or not.

- QUESTION FOR COMMITMENT -

The projectile firing was the first since the impromptu meeting between the President of the United States, Donald Trump, and the Supreme Leader of North Korea and Chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea, Kim Jong-un, on the sidelines of G20 Summit in Osaka, Japan, late June. Both of the state leaders met in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) which divides S. Korea and N. Korea. Previously in May, N. Korea fired an intercontinental missile, first since 2017.

During the meeting, Trump and Kim both agreed that the U.S and N. Korea should restart the denuclearization talks. The U.S Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, said that the talks would begin in July. However, the talks were not even mentioned until now, nor any meeting of both countries’ officials. Thus, N. Korea once again questioned the U.S’s commitment to world peace.

Making things even worse, the firing was assumed to be an angry reaction by N. Korea after acknowledging the fact that the U.S and S. Korea are about to conduct a joint military exercise, seeing this as the “violation of the spirit” of the joint commitment between the U.S and N. Korea signed last year in Singapore.

In the last year's joint commitment, N. Korea promised that they would stop any nuclear activity. Since the U.S is dilly-dallying about it, then N. Korea also continued producing nuclear, according to satellite image over N. Korean nuclear site.

On Tuesday (23/7), Kim also inspected a new type of submarine to upgrade its naval security. Furthermore, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) revealed that the submarines contain ballistic missiles.

However, Trump seems to be confident that Kim would not do anything “silly” to put the world peace at risk, claiming that both are on the same side and saying that Kim is the man of his word.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-49107187

Politics , Asia , S.Korea , N.Korea , Japan , U.S , Nuclear , Projectile , Military , Denuclearization , World-Peace