North Korea Launches Ballistic Missiles That Can Reach Japan

On Sunday, North Korea conducted two ballistic missile tests that could have been seen as a form of protest against Tokyo’s decision to embrace a new security plan that would encourage a more aggressive attitude against China and North Korea.

Additionally, two days prior to the launches, the North claimed to have carried out a crucial test required for the development of a more mobile, potent intercontinental ballistic missile intended to target the US mainland.

According to the governments of South Korea and Japan, the two missiles traveled from the Tongchangri region in the country’s northwest approximately 310 miles at a maximum height of 340 miles before touching down in the waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan.

According to South Korea’s military, both missiles were fired at a steep angle, indicating that they could have traveled further if they had been fired along a straight trajectory. Although it launched an intermediate-range missile over Japan in October, leading Tokyo to issue evacuation notices and halt trains, North Korea typically tests medium and longer-range missiles at a high angle to avoid neighboring countries.

Leading South Korean security officials condemned North Korea’s ongoing provocations in an emergency meeting, claiming that they occurred despite “the plight of its citizens moaning in hunger and cold due to a serious food shortage”.

According to the South Korean presidential office, they stated that South Korea will strengthen its trilateral security cooperation with the US and Japan.

Toshiro Ino, the vice minister of defense for Japan, has independently criticized North Korea for endangering the security of his country, the region, and the global community.

The illegal ballistic missile and weapons of mass destruction programs of North Korea, according to the US Indo-Pacific Command, have a destabilizing effect. It stated that US commitments to South Korea’s and Japan’s defense “remain ironclad.”

An ex-professor at the South Korean university Korea National Defence University named Kwon Yong Soo claimed that North Korea has most likely tested its Pukguksong-2 missile, a land-based, solid-fueled member of the Pukguksong family of missiles that can be fired from submarines.

According to Kwon, the Pukguksong-2 has a range of 745 to 1,240 miles, which is sufficient to reach important targets in Japan, such as US military sites there. The Pukguksong-2, according to some scientists, is nuclear capability.

The Japanese government announced a national security plan on Friday that would enable it to launch potent cruise missiles and conduct pre-emptive attacks, giving it a stronger offensive position against North Korean and Chinese threats.

That represented a significant departure from its post-war principle of sole self-defense.

Before North Korea and Russia, China is listed in the Japanese policy as “the biggest strategic challenge” to Japan’s efforts to maintain peace, safety, and stability for both itself and the rest of the world.

After launching its longest-range, liquid-fueled Hwasong-17 ICBM in development last month, which is capable of hitting the whole US heartland, the North conducted its first public weapons test on Sunday.

North Korea conducted a record number of missile tests earlier this year.

To counter the increased US-South Korean military exercises, which it perceives as an invasion practice, North Korea has justified its weapons testing as an act of self-defense.

However, some experts assert that North Korea most likely utilized the military training of its adversaries as a pretext to enhance its arsenal and gain leverage in upcoming talks with the US to obtain sanctions relief and other concessions.