North Korea sent another ballistic missile flying over the island of Hokkaido in Japan and it landed in the Pacific Ocean. It was a show of defiance to the world by the regime of Kim Jong Un which ignored the UN sanctions and went ahead with the launch as a part of its nuclear program. North Korean state news agency KCNA has, reportedly, threatened to sink all tfour islands of Japan.
This launch is the second one over Japan in less than a month. The first one was after North Korea conducted its sixth nuclear test and it invited fresh UN sanctions on the country.
The latest launch is also believed to be a message to the United States in terms of distance covered by the weapon. The distance was approximately equal to the distance from North Korea to Guam which is home to a US military installation and is a probable target of Kim.
Pyongyang defies the world
CNN reports that this activity has forced the world to wake up to the consequences of provocative actions unleashed by North Korea. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan has said that such an action was "totally unacceptable" and was not in consonance with the need for a peaceful solution.
Tokyo and Washington plan to increase pressure on the United Nations and call for a snap meeting of the Security Council before the General Assembly scheduled for next week.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has labeled the missile launch as not only a reckless breach of UN resolutions but also a major threat to international peace and security. He feels that the global community must respond to such a threat.
War games are on
In the opinion of U.S. experts, the missile fired fell in the category of an intermediate-range ballistic missile and was similar to the one fired over Japan earlier.
The missile flew a distance of nearly 3,700 kilometers and attained an altitude of 770 kilometers before it fell in the Pacific Ocean. Incidentally, the distance between North Korea and Guam is around 3,380 kilometers and this is significant from the American point of view.
South Korea conducted a "live fire drill" even as the North Korean missile was speeding through the air.
The weapon launched by Seoul could target the site from where the North had sent its missile over Hokkaido. According to an official of South Korea, the exercise was a response to North Korea's latest provocation.
South Korea is an ally of the United States and carries out regular joint military exercises to ensure readiness at all times. America has positioned its warships in the Korean peninsula and has given the THAAD missile defense system to Seoul. There are also satellites to monitor activities in North Korea. These are meant to boost the confidence level of Seoul but, Kim Jong Un is determined to nuke America. He has identified possible targets and the worries of Seoul are far from over. A misplaced step could mean large-scale destruction which it wants to avoid.
