North Korea fires ‘suspected’ ballistic missile ahead of South’s election

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff and the office of Japan’s Prime Minister stated that the launch on Saturday – Pyongyang’s ninth so far this year — appeared to involve a suspected ballistic missile.

While military authorities in Seoul said they had detected a presumed “ballistic missile launched into the East Sea from the Sunan area around 08:48 am,” Japan’s Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi asserted that the North Korean projectile had flown “at a maximum altitude of approximately 550 kilometers and a distance of approximately 300 kilometers.”

Kishi further described the “extremely high frequency” of Pyongyang’s weapons tests this year as “a threat to the region” and “absolutely unacceptable,” adding, “The significant pace at which North Korea is developing its missile-launching technology is not something our country and the surrounding regions can overlook.”

“This launch comes at a time when international society is dealing with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and also when the Beijing Paralympics is being held… and it is not acceptable,” the Japanese minister also emphasized.

Meanwhile, South Korea’s National Security Council is due to convene an emergency meeting on Pyongyang’s latest suspected missile test, Seoul’s presidential Blue House announced as the country prepares for elections later this week.

North Korea’s last missile test took place on February 27 when Pyongyang said it tested systems for a reconnaissance satellite in a location near Sunan.

The launch underscores the challenges facing whoever wins Wednesday’s presidential race in South Korea. 

Analysts insist, however, that tensions with Pyongyang are no longer considered a major issue in South Korean elections, with issues such as domestic income inequality and youth unemployment being among top concerns of voters.

They further state that if Moon’s ruling Democratic party loses on Wednesday, it could herald a shift in Seoul’s North Korea policy.

One of the two frontrunners, hawkish former prosecutor Yoon Suk-yeol of the opposition People Power Party, has threatened a pre-emptive strike on the country’s nuclear-armed neighbor if needed.

With denuclearization talks stalled, North Korea conducted a record number of missile launches in January. It appears to be preparing to launch a spy satellite in the near future, and has suggested it could resume testing of nuclear weapons or its longest range intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) for the first time since 2017.

Despite biting US-led sanctions over its nuclear weapons, Pyongyang has ignored American offers of talks since high-profile negotiations between leader Kim Jong-un and then-US president Donald Trump produced nothing substantive and ultimately collapsed in 2019.

Despite its insistence on North Korea’s denuclearization, Washington has fiercely refused to reciprocate by downgrading its massive military presence and activities in the Korean Peninsula.  

In face of persisting joint US-South Korea war games near its territorial waters, Pyongyang has doubled-down on Kim’s drive to modernize its military, warning in January that it could abandon a self-imposed moratorium on testing long-range missiles and nuclear weapons.

The US-based 38 North project — which monitors North Korea — claimed on Friday that the country’s main nuclear facility is in full swing, producing fuel for potential nuclear weapons and an expansion of its nuclear production facilities.

The development comes a week after China’s President Xi Jinping underlined the significance of Beijing’s cooperation with Pyongyang in a message to North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un.

Xi further emphasized that China is ready to “develop the China-DPRK relations of friendship and cooperation” under a “new situation,” KCNA said on February 26, referring to North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).

Back in January, Kim had protested new US sanctions against Pyongyang as well as its persisting military cooperation with rival South Korea, calling on officials to “examine” the issue of resuming long-range missile and nuclear testing after he imposed a moratorium on such activities in early 2018.

The administration of US President Joe Biden imposed its latest sanctions against Pyongyang last month. It further called on the UNSC to take action against several North Korean individuals and entities accused of violating resolutions that ban the North’s missile and nuclear weapons development.

Reacting to the move, a Pyongyang’s foreign ministry spokesperson emphasized in a statement last month that the new US sanctions underscore hostile American intent aimed at “isolating and stifling” North Korea despite Washington’s repeated calls for the North to resume diplomacy.

“The US is intentionally escalating the situation even with the activation of independent sanctions, not content with referring the DPRK’s just activity to the UN Security Council,” the statement said.

The spokesperson said that the North’s development of the new missile is part of its efforts to modernize its military and explained that it does not target any specific country or threaten the security of its neighbors.