South Korea’s military on Wednesday condemned North Korea after it fired at least 17 missiles in its direction on Wednesday, at least one of which landed near their sea border. It marked the first time that a missile from North Korea landed in close proximity to the South’s territorial waters since the division of the peninsula over 70 years ago. It also fired around 100 artillery shells into the eastern maritime buffer zone established in 2018.
In an official statement, the South’s Joint Chief of Staff (JCS) said, “North Korea’s missile launch, which marks the first time since the division of the peninsula that has landed near our territorial waters south of the Northern Limit Line, is very rare and intolerable.” “Our military can never tolerate North Korea's provocative act and will sternly respond to it in close cooperation with the US,” it declared.
The JCS revealed that the missile firing from a site in or around the North’s eastern coastal city of Wonsan was detected at around 8:51 am. It also reported detecting at least three short-range ballistic missiles (SRBMs) in the East Sea earlier in the day, one of which flew across the de facto maritime border.
Here too. pic.twitter.com/igtK3c5kCC
— Raphael Rashid (@koryodynasty) November 2, 2022
At least one of the missiles landed in the high seas, around 26 kilometres south of the Northern Limit Line (NLL), which is located only 57 kilometres (km) east of the eastern city of Sokcho and 167 km northwest of Ulleung Island, near Dokdo.
The missile’s proximity prompted local authorities to issue a rare air raid alert and forced residents to scramble for shelter in their basements, while sirens sounded across Ulleung around 8:55 am.
In response, South Korean warplanes fired three air-to-ground missiles into the sea north across the NLL.
The latest provocation from Pyongyang comes against the backdrop of the United States (US) and South Korea’s staging their week-long joint military exercise. The Vigilant Storm involves more than 240 aircraft—including F-35A stealth fighters, F-15K jets and KF-16 jets from South Korea and F-35B stealth fighters, EA-18 electronic warfare aircraft, KC-135 tankers and U-2 high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft from the US—and aims to bolster deterrence against North Korea.
TENSIONS RISE ON KOREAN PENINSULA
— BNO News (@BNONews) November 2, 2022
- North Korea fires 18 missiles into sea
- In response to US-South Korean drills
- Biggest volley of missiles since 1953
- Triggering air raid sirens in South
- 100 artillery rounds fired into buffer zone
- South fires 3 missiles in show of force
Referring to the exercise, Pak Jong Chon, the secretary of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea, remarked in a press statement on Tuesday that the “hostile forces’ inordinate moves for military confrontation” are responsible for creating “a grave situation” on the peninsula.
“Given the number of fighters involved in the combined air drill Vigilant Storm staged by the US and South Korea and the size of the drill, I consider it an aggressive and provocative military drill targeting the DPRK,” he said, referring to the abbreviation for the North’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. He further argued that the exercise’s name bore a similarity to Operation Desert Storm, which the US used to invade Iraq in the early 1990s. “It is a very unfavorable sign,” Pak said.
“If the US thinks of playing on the Korean peninsula the way it had bombed weak countries at any time and made a mockery of the destiny of sovereign states at the end of the last century, it will be a daydream and a fatal strategic mistake,” Pak warned. “The Korean peninsula is not such a place where the US military bluff can work as it does in other regions,” he added.
[Emergency alert]
— PM's Office of Japan (@JPN_PMO) November 2, 2022
North Korea has launched a suspected ballistic missile. Further updates will follow.
Pak concluded by saying that if Washington and Seoul attempt to use force against Pyongyang, it will carry out a “strategic mission without delay” and force them to “face a terrible case and pay the most horrible price in history.”
On the same day, US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said during a press briefing that North Korea “knows full well that the military exercises that we conduct are purely, purely defensive in nature, and they do nothing more than support the security of our allies in the region.” “We have made very clear in our messages… that we harbour no hostile intent towards the DPRK,” he added.
“At the same time,” Price added, the US is “committed to the security” of South Korea and Japan. “There would be profound costs and profound consequences if the DPRK were to take this dangerous, destabilizing step in contravention of not only UN Security Council resolutions,” he warned.
Just as media report on this morning's North Korean missiles, another alert for people living in Ulleung county to prepare to take shelter. pic.twitter.com/mCabuSpbcF
— Raphael Rashid (@koryodynasty) November 2, 2022
Even in his regular press briefing a day prior, Price reaffirmed that the US’ policy on North Korea remained its complete denuclearisation and had not changed. He said the US remains “open to diplomacy” but “does not foresee” any future in which it recognises North Korea as a nuclear state, despite Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un recently enshrining its nuclear status. The rogue state appears all but set to launch its seventh nuclear test, its first since 2017.
Both South Korean and US intelligence have warned that preparations for such a test have already been completed. In fact, a senior State Department official told CBS News this week: “We think they’re ready to go. Kim just has to give the thumbs up.”
In response to the escalation, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol convened a meeting of the National Security Council and condemned the “unprecedented” launches, which come during a period of national mourning for the 156 people killed in the Itaewon Halloween crowd crush over the weekend.
Japan, too, has taken note of North Korea’s escalation, with Defence Minister Yasukazu Hamada saying, “North Korea has been repeatedly launching missiles at an unprecedented rate, in new ways that we have not seen before.” He added, “These actions threaten the peace and stability of Japan, the wider region, as well as the broader international community, and are utterly unacceptable.”