After threatening to shoot down any US spy plane violating its airspace, North Korea again provoked the international community by launching a new ballistic missile. Today (Wednesday), the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the South Korean army revealed that its northern neighbor launched an unspecified ballistic missile towards the East Sea at an oblique angle and flew 1,000 kilometers. The South Korean president vowed that Pyongyang would pay for its actions, which he described as illegal.
For his part, the Japanese border guards confirmed the fall of the ballistic missile launched by North Korea. The Japanese government said that North Korea’s launch of a ballistic missile is a serious provocation and a violation of international resolutions, adding that Tokyo lodged a strong protest against the North Korean experience through diplomatic channels in China.
It is noteworthy that relations between the two Koreas deteriorated to their lowest levels with the cessation of dialogue and the declaration of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un that his country is a nuclear state irreversibly, calling on his army leaders to enhance the development of the military arsenal, especially tactical nuclear weapons. Seoul and Washington vowed that Pyongyang would face a nuclear response and end the current government in North Korea if it used its nuclear weapons.
A spokesman for the North Korean Ministry of Defense said that the United States has intensified spying activities more than wartime levels through provocative flights of American spy planes, he said.
“There is no guarantee that a shocking incident will not occur,” the official Central News Agency quoted the spokesman as warning.
For her part, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Yo Jong reported that a US spy plane violated the eastern airspace of North Korea twice (Monday) last.
In a statement, it warned against taking a decisive step if the US military crossed the military line of its maritime borders.
