Pyongyang shot Tuesday a ballistic missile in intermediate range (IRBM) which flew over Japan, which led Tokyo to activate its alert system. Seoul and Washington provided a common response.
Le Monde with AFP
South Korea and the United States launched four soil-to-ground missiles towards the Japanese Sea, the South Korean army announced on Wednesday, October 5, after a series of fire by North Korea. According to the South Korean staff, the South Korean and American armies each fired two tactical missiles towards simulated targets. Tuesday, the aviations of the two allied countries had already carried out a bombing exercise on a target in the yellow sea.
The spokesperson for the US National Security Council John Kirby, interviewed by the CNN channel, said that it was a question of “responding to provocations of the North, to ensure that we can demonstrate our own capacities” and “We ensure that we have the ready -made military capacities”. However, he did not directly confirm the shots, and did not bring more details. “We should not get there. We clearly let Kim Jong know that we are ready to sit at the table without prerequisites,” he added.
North Korea, which has revised its legislation to make its nuclear power status “irreversible”, intensified its shots this year and launched an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) for the first time since 2017. Its shot, Tuesday, above Japan is part of these maneuvers. Tokyo had been forced to activate his alert system and ask the inhabitants of certain regions to take shelter.
The secretary general of the UN Antonio Guterres denounced a “climbing” and called Pyongyang “to resume the dialogue” in order to achieve “a complete and verifiable denuclearization of the Korean peninsula”.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-Yeol, for his part deplored a “provocation” clearly violating the universal principles and norms of the United Nations “, and ordered” a firm response “.