People watch a news program showing a file image of a North Korean rocket launch at the Seoul railway station in Seoul, South Korea.
South Korea’s military said on Sunday that North Korea fired suspicious artillery pieces into the sea, days after its latest missile launch failed.
There is speculation that North Korea may soon try to launch its developmental longest-range ballistic missile to bolster its weapons arsenal and pressure the United States to make concessions amid stalled diplomacy . South Korea’s military suggested that parts of its Hwasong-17 missile, its deadliest weapon, were involved in a mid-air missile blast over North Korea last Wednesday.
On Sunday, South Korea’s Defense Ministry said it had explored the possibility of firing from multiple rocket launch systems off North Korea’s west coast. The ministry said the South Korean military closely monitors North Korea’s activities and maintains its preparedness.
South Korea’s presidential office said in a separate statement that it would hold an emergency National Security Council meeting to discuss the North’s “short-range projectile launch”.
Council members worked in close coordination with the United States to analyze the details of the shootings. The statement said that South Korea will use its increased military capability and its alliance with the US to prevent a security vacuum in Seoul during the transition period.
President Moon Jae-in’s single five-year term ends in May and will be replaced by a new conservative government led by President-elect Yoon Suk Yeol. A former top prosecutor, Yoon has vowed to boost Seoul’s military alliance with Washington and secure a stronger US security commitment to neutralize growing North Korean nuclear threats.
Wednesday’s failed missile firing was North Korea’s 10th weapons launch this year. US and South Korean forces said they had concluded that two of North Korea’s recent launches before Wednesday were to test the Hwasong-17 system. North Korea later said those launches were designed to test cameras and other systems for a spy satellite.
Some outside experts say North Korea may launch a Hwasong-17 rocket to test its long-range missile technology and put its first working spy satellite into orbit. The Hwasong-17 has a potential maximum range of 15,000 kilometers (9,320 mi) that would keep the entire US mainland within striking distance, and its sheer size suggests that it could carry a large payload or multiple nuclear warheads.
The launch of Hwasong-17, if done, would be North Korea’s most serious provocation since the country conducted three intercontinental ballistic missile tests in 2017.
The South Korean government did not immediately disclose where the weapons were fired on Sunday. There were naval conflicts in 1999, 2002 and 2009 in Korea’s poorly marked western maritime border. In 2010 attacks on North Korea in the region killed 50 South Koreans – 46 on a warship and four on a border island.
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