INQUISITR.COM / News & Politics

North Korea Fires Missiles Toward Japan As G20 Leaders Meet In China

By Reggie Reiner
Published on: 22:28 PST, Sep 4, 2016

North Korea launched three ballistic missiles in the direction of Japan on Monday. The launch occurred as world leaders, including U.S. President Barack Obama, are meeting in China for the G20 summit.

The missile launch took place just after 12 p.m. local time, or 10 p.m. Sunday night Eastern Time in the United States.

South Korean officials stated that the missiles were launched into the Sea of Japan from Hwangju County, in North Hwanghae province, North Korea. CNN reports that these were mid-range Rodong missiles which traveled more than 600 miles.

These missiles could reach Japan. The Japanese Defense Ministry released a statement expressing its dismay saying, “We are still analyzing details but this is a grave threat to our nation’s security, and we express deep concern.”

Japanese officials revealed that the North Korean missiles landed almost 100 miles off the coast the country’s most northern main island Hokkaido.

CNN quoted John Delury, assistant professor at Yonsei University in South Korea, as stating, “This is Pyongyang’s way of reminding everyone of their existence at a moment when all the parties are together, in a typically defiant, North Korean way.”

The Yonhap News Agency quoted a South Korean official as saying that, “We are fully prepared to fight tonight in case North Korea makes any provocative moves.”

South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued the following statement.

“North Korea’s ballistic missile launches today are a blatant violation of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions. The launches constitute an act of grave provocation that show North Korea’s nuclear and missile development poses actual threats to neighboring countries, the international community as well as to Korean Peninsula, and the government strongly condemns them.

“North Korea would get nothing from such provocations and they will only strengthen South Korea and the international community’s zero-tolerance policy on North Korea’s nuclear arsenal and determination for sanctions and pressure on the country.”

This is similar to previous reactions on the part of South Korea when North Korea launched missiles in the past. This latest launch was of missiles that might be able to hit Japan. But clearly they are not necessary for use against neighboring South Korea.

Yonhap also reported that during a meeting between South Korean President Park Geun-hye and Chinese President Xi Jinping, Park expressed her desire that South Korea and China could find common ground in dealing with the problems posed by the actions of North Korea.

So did North Korea launch the missiles just to get attention while the world’s attention was drawn to China, its neighbor, for the G20 summit? This is certainly one theory which analysts are sure to raise on the cable news channels and online in the coming days.

Interestingly, North Korea made the move even though the Chinese government had just stated its opposition to American officials to the deployment in South Korea of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense system. The United States wishes to provide the missile system to South Korea to help it defend itself against a possible aggression from North Korea. But the Chinese government has expressed concerns that the missiles have a range that could reach Chinese territory.

This is reminiscent of similar missile disputes during the Cold War. At the beginning of the 1960s, the United States placed nuclear missiles in Turkey, which it said were for defensive purposes only. Some historians believe that this led the Soviet Union to place missiles in Cuba, which led to the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.

So could the North Korean missile launch backfire on the isolated state?

Some analysts are saying that this action by North Korea is sure to annoy and anger China. Just as China is trying to stop the U.S. from deploying missiles in South Korea, North Korea has given America a case to support their intention to do so. This makes the launch so odd considering that North Korea is dependent on China for many things, including protection from the West.

But the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is not known for being rational. This is a person who has had close family members, who were senior officials in his government, executed by firing missiles at them.

The missile launch by North Korea comes just a month after the isolated nation claimed to have successfully launched missiles from a submarine.

The coming days will reveal exactly how nations like China truly felt about this North Korea missile launch.

[Photo by Wong May-E/AP Photo, File]

Share this article: North Korea Fires Missiles Toward Japan As G20 Leaders Meet In China
north korea
More from Inquisitr