Kim Jong Un, the Supreme Leader of North Korea, personally oversaw the launch of four banned ballistic missiles and not only appreciated what he saw but added that it was preparatory work for conducting attacks on a US base in Japan. Tomomi Inada, Defence Minister of Japan has confirmed that four missiles did fly and they achieved parameters that are a matter of concern.
A military spokesman of South Korea has revealed by that the missiles were launched from a region located close to the North Korea-China border.
SkyNews reports that the timing of the launch coincided with the annual military drills that are carried out jointly by the armed forces of United States and South Korea but, North Korea feels that these exercises are rehearsals for an invasion.
North Korea and its missile programs
As per resolutions of the United Nations, Pyongyang is banned from using ballistic missile technology. Hence, both Washington and Tokyo want that the United Nations Security Council have a meeting on the subject. President Trump has already indicated that he would prevent any action of North Korea that could be detrimental to the interests of the United States. However, he has yet to spell out his action plan to achieve this objective.
Pyongyang, on its part, perceives the US-South Korea military exercise as an instigation that is pushing the Korean Peninsula and northeast Asia toward ‘nuclear disaster.’
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has condemned the launch of missiles by North Korea and has urged the country to refrain from further ‘provocations’ because these are in violation of Security Council resolutions and are not good for peace and stability.
Is THAAD the answer?
United States planned to augment the defenses of South Korea against ballistic missiles and one of the options it has is deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD). This is a defensive missile system and its installation had been tentatively fixed as autumn but, in view of recent developments, it could be preponed.
Japan is also keen to add to its missile defenses and could opt for THAAD or go in for an alternate in the form of a ground-based version of the Aegis system deployed on US warships.
It is obvious that positive action is necessary to put a brake on nuclear missile programs of North Korea and America must arrive at a solution in consultation with Japan and South Korea so that threats of nuclear attacks are eliminated. The destructive nature of nuclear bombs is well known and the world should rise as one to prevent any such threat.
