According to the Japanese Deputy Defense Minister, the pace is “unprecedented”. For the fourth time in a week, North Korea fired missiles on Saturday, October 1, according to Japan and the South Korean army. two gears “short range” traveled 350 km from the Pyongyang region to the Sea of Japan, according to the South Korean chief of staff.
Missiles “appear to have followed irregular trajectories”said Japanese Deputy Defense Minister Toshiro Ino. This would indicate an ability of these projectiles to maneuver in flight, making them more difficult to track and intercept.
North Korea had already launched short-range ballistic missiles on Sunday, Wednesday and Thursday.
The specter of another nuclear test
This renewed activity by Pyongyang coincides with a show of force from its adversaries in the region. On Friday, Japan, South Korea and the United States conducted anti-submarine drills, their first trilateral drills in five years. They take place a few days after joint maneuvers by Seoul and Washington, in which an American aircraft carrier participated. US Vice President Kamala Harris also traveled to South Korea on Thursday, and visited the demilitarized zone between the two Koreas.
Saturday, the chief of the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff described the new firings as “serious provocation”. The American command in the region estimated, in a press release, that they were putting “highlight the destabilizing capacity of illegal weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs” of North Korea.
Intelligence from South Korea and the United States fears that North Korea is also preparing to carry out its first nuclear test since 2017. “It would be very worrying, there would be an answer”assured Friday Admiral Sam Paparo, chief of the American fleet in the region.
