North Korea warns of turning Pacific into ‘firing range’
Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un, has warned against the increased presence of U.S. strategic military assets following the joint air drills with its Asian allies over the weekend, saying the reclusive nuclear state could turn the Pacific into a “firing range”.
“The frequency of using the Pacific as our firing range depends upon the U.S. forces’ action character,” she said in a statement carried by KCNA.
Kim Yo Jong made the statement after North Korea fired two more ballistic missiles off its east coast on Monday.
Monday’s missile launch is the North’s third known weapons test this year after it fired an unprecedented number of missiles last year, including ICBMs capable of striking anywhere in the United States.
The launches come just two days after North Korea fired an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) into the sea off Japan’s west coast, prompting the United States to hold joint air exercises with South Korea and separately with Japan on Sunday.
North Korea’s state media confirmed it fired two projectiles from a multiple rocket launcher, aiming at targets 395 km (245 miles) and 337 km (209 miles) away, respectively.
“The 600mm multiple rocket launcher mobilised in the firing… is a means of tactical nuclear weapon,” capable of “paralysing” an enemy airfield,” state news agency KCNA said.
Japan’s Defense Ministry said the two missiles, fired around 2200 GMT, reached a maximum altitude of about 100 km and 50 km and fell outside Japan’s EEZ.
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Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said he had requested an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting over the launches, and the Jiji news agency said the gathering was set for 2000 GMT Monday.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff strongly condemned the launches as a “grave provocation” that should be ceased immediately.
The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said the latest launch did not pose an immediate threat but highlights the “destabilising impact” of North Korea’s unlawful weapons programmes.
U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric urged Pyongyang to “immediately desist from taking any further provocative actions” banned under Security Council resolutions, and resume denuclearisation dialogue.
The United States and South Korea are set to hold simulated nuclear tabletop exercises aimed at improving operations of American nuclear assets this week, as well as annual springtime Freedom Shield field training in March.
Zainab Sa’id
