The launches came hours after North Korea threatened to use nuclear weapons to make the US and South Korea “pay the most horrific price in history” in protest at ongoing South Korea-US military exercises which it sees as a rehearsal for an invasion. The White House has maintained that the United States has no hostile intent toward North Korea and has pledged to work with allies to curb North Korea’s nuclear ambitions. The North’s barrage of missile tests also came as global attention turned to South Korea after a Halloween weekend tragedy that killed more than 150 people in a wave of crowds in Seoul, the country’s worst disaster in years. South Korea’s military said North Korea fired at least 17 missiles – all short-range ballistic weapons or suspected surface-to-air missiles – from its east and west coasts on Wednesday morning. Later in the day, North Korea fired about 100 artillery shells into an eastern maritime security zone that Korea established in 2018 to reduce tensions, according to South Korea’s military. The launch of 17 missiles is a record for daily weapons tests by North Korea in recent years. People watch a television news report about North Korea launching a ballistic missile off its east coast, in Seoul, South Korea, November 2, 2022. KIM HONG-JI / REUTERS One of the missiles fired by Pyongyang – a ballistic weapon – was flying towards South Korea’s Ulleung Island before eventually landing 104 miles northwest of the island. The South Korean military then issued an airstrike alert on the island, according to the South Korean General Staff. South Korean media published photos showing islanders moving to underground shelters. Hours later on Wednesday, South Korea’s military announced it had lifted its airstrike alert on the island. This missile landed 16 miles away from the adversaries sea border. The landing site is in international waters but well south of the nations’ maritime border extension, off South Korea’s east coast. South Korea’s military said it was the first time a North Korean missile had landed so close to the sea border since the countries split in 1948. “This is very unprecedented and we will never tolerate it,” South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a separate statement. In 2010, North Korea bombed a South Korean front-line island off the peninsula’s west coast, killing four people. But the weapons used were artillery rockets, not ballistic missiles whose launches or tests are prohibited by multiple UN Security Council resolutions. Later on Wednesday, South Korean warplanes fired three precision-guided air-to-surface missiles near the eastern sea border to show their determination to get tough in the face of North Korean provocations. South Korea’s military said the missiles landed in international waters at the same distance 16 miles north of the maritime border extension as the North Korean missile fell earlier on Wednesday. He said he maintained his readiness to win “an overwhelming victory” against North Korea in any potential conflict.
“North Korea firing missiles in a way that sets off air raid sirens appears to be intended to threaten the South Koreans into pressuring their government to change policy,” said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul. “North Korea’s expanding military capabilities and tests are worrisome, but offering concessions on alliance cooperation or nuclear recognition would make matters worse.” South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff earlier identified three of the North Korean weapons fired as “short-range ballistic missiles” fired from North Korea’s eastern coastal city of Wonsan, including one that landed near the maritime border.
North Korea’s short-range weapons are designed to hit key installations in South Korea, including US military bases there.
In an emergency meeting of top security officials, South Korean President Yun Suk-yeol ordered officials to quickly take unspecified measures to make North Korea face consequences for its provocation. He said he would consider the North Korean missile landing near the border “a virtual violation of (our) territorial waters.” During South Korea’s emergency meeting, “participants complained about the provocations committed during our period of national mourning and pointed out that this clearly showed the nature of the North Korean government,” according to South Korea’s presidential office.
Earlier on Wednesday, Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada told reporters that at least two ballistic missiles fired by North Korea showed a possibly “erratic” trajectory. This suggests the missiles are the North’s highly maneuverable, nuclear-capable KN-23 missile, which was designed based on Russia’s Iskander missile. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida called North Korea’s continued missile tests “absolutely unacceptable”. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is preparing to conduct an atomic test soon as he continues to develop a tactical nuclear weapon, US and South Korean officials told CBS News. A nuclear test would mean that Kim has been able to develop his weapons program through the Trump and Biden administrations and despite the COVID-19 pandemic. “We think they’re ready to go. Kim just needs to give the thumbs up,” a senior State Department official told CBS News. A tactical nuclear device is designed to be used on a battlefield.
Analyst Cheong Seong-Chang at the private Sejong Institute in South Korea said the risk of armed conflict between the Koreas off their west or east coasts is rising. He said South Korea should make “proportionate responses” to North Korean provocations, not “overwhelming responses,” to prevent tensions from spiraling out of control and possibly leading the North to use its tactical nuclear weapons.
Hostilities on the Korean peninsula have been high in recent months, with North Korea testing a series of nuclear-capable missiles and adopting a law allowing for the preemptive use of its nuclear weapons in a wide range of situations. Some experts still doubt that North Korea would use nuclear weapons first against US and South Korean forces. North Korea has argued that its recent weapons tests were intended to warn Washington and Seoul about a series of joint military exercises it sees as rehearsals for an invasion, including this week’s drills involving some 240 warplanes.
In a statement released early Wednesday, Park Yong-chon, secretary of the ruling Workers’ Party who is considered a close confidant of leader Kim, called the air force’s so-called Vigilant Storm exercises “aggressive and provocative.” “If the US and South Korea attempt to use armed forces against (North Korea) without any fear, the (North’s) armed forces’ special means will carry out their strategic mission without delay,” Park said, in an apparent reference of the country’s nuclear weapons.
“The US and South Korea will have to face a terrible case and pay the most horrific price in history,” he said. US and South Korean officials have consistently said their drills are defensive in nature and that they have no intention of attacking North Korea.