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Korea

North Korea Launches 23 Missiles, Crossing Maritime Border with the South

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According to the South Korean military, North Korea launched at least 23 missiles to the east and west of the Korean peninsula on Wednesday. It is the highest number of short-range missiles fired by the North in a day, with one missile landing in waters farthest south than ever before.

Many kinds of missiles were fired, including surface-to-air missiles that landed in surrounding waters. A short-range ballistic missile landed near South Korean territorial waters for the first time since the division of Korea in 1948. According to CNN, this is North Korea’s 29th launch this year.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said one missile landed in international waters 104 miles (167 kilometers) northwest of South Korea’s Ulleung island, which is also around 16 miles (26 kilometers) south of the Northern Limit Line. The NLL is a de facto maritime boundary between the two countries, which North Korea does not recognize.

An air raid warning on Ulleung island was sounded, and citizens evacuated to raid shelters. The sirens eventually lifted at 2 p.m. local time on Wednesday. 

The launches came shortly after North Korea’s threats to utilize nuclear weapons and have the U.S. and South Korea “pay the most horrible price in history” if they were to take any action against Pyongyang. The hostile rhetoric is in response to ongoing large-scale South Korean and U. S. military drills.

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South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said North Korea’s missile test was an “effective territorial encroachment” and ordered that “a stern response be swiftly taken so that North Korea’s provocation pays a clear price.”

As a direct response, South Korea launched three air-to-surface missiles from fighter jets into waters north of the NLL at an equal distance to that which the North Korean missile had earlier landed south of the line, according to JCS.

“Our military’s precise strike showed our will to firmly respond to any North Korean provocations including short-range ballistic missiles, and our capability and readiness to precisely target the enemy.”

Japan’s Defense Ministry shared that North Korea also conducted another launch later on Wednesday, including a ballistic missile that fell into waters outside Japan’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). 

“North Korea has rapidly escalated its provocations, launching more than a dozen missiles today alone and reportedly firing more than 100 artillery shells into the Japan sea since announcing an extremely provocative statement earlier in the day.”

According to CNN, no damage to aircraft or vessels has been confirmed as of right now.

The international response was swift. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said that North Korea is launching missiles at an “unprecedentedly high frequency” and called for a National Security Council meeting to be held. 

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Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong tweeted about the rising tensions in the region.

“North Korea’s unprecedented launch of multiple ballistic missiles is recklessly threatening the security of the Republic of Korea. North Korea’s actions continue to undermine Indo-Pacific stability and violate multiple UNSC resolutions. Pyongyang must cease this action.”

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield condemned North Korea’s overnight missile launch.

“It’s unprecedented in the sense that there were so many this day, but they have been continuously launching missiles over the past year. And we have continued to condemn them because they break multiple Security Council resolutions.”

The UN’s nuclear watchdog also warned that North Korea could be gearing up for a nuclear test, breaking its five-year hiatus. Satellite imagery showed heightened activity at North Korea’s underground nuclear test site. 

Rafael Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said the agency has acknowledged North Korea’s preparation for a test.

“Everybody is holding its breath about this, because another nuclear test would be yet another confirmation of a program which is moving full steam ahead, in a way that is incredibly, incredibly concerning. Further tests, of course, means that they are refining the preparations and the construction of their arsenal. So we are following this very, very closely. We hope it doesn’t happen, but indications unfortunately go in another direction.”

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Deteriorating South Korea-Japan Relations Highlight Long-Standing Feud

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Most Americans, even the politically-engaged, don’t play close attention to Asian politics. But new developments throughout the region are important to understand, particularly because of their potential impact on the future of global politics.

Most recently, South Korea announced that it would abandon a pact to share intelligence with Japan. As a result, both countries will have to rely on sharing information through the United States instead of directly with each other. The dissolution of the pact complicates efforts among the countries to monitor North Korea’s nuclear missile program, an ongoing threat to global stability. According to analysts, the end of the agreement to share information could lead to even greater problems in the event of a crisis.

South Korea’s withdrawal comes as a response to a recent decision from Japan to remove South Korea from its “white list” of trading partners and initiate restrictions on trade. In response to the decision, the Pentagon has expressed “strong concern and disappointment,” and urged the two countries to reconsider, as a recent conflict that began with trade disputes now has national security implications. Japan has also criticized South Korea for the decision, lamenting a perceived dissolution of trust between the two countries.

The history of conflict between the two countries motivates the trade and national security disagreements occurring today.

Though the feud between Japan and South Korea has intensified in recent years, the two countries have a long history of conflict. The dispute started in 1910 after Japan colonized South Korea and recruited workers who were extremely underpaid. During World War II, the Japanese army forced South Korean women to serve as sex slaves. Although Japan signed treaties in 1965 and 2015 to compensate the families of the victims of the country’s exploitative actions, the pain South Korea experiences as a result of these crimes remains. The history of conflict between the two countries motivates the trade and national security disagreements occurring today.

Last year, a lawsuit on behalf of the underpaid laborers sued the offending Japanese companies in South Korean court. The South Korean Supreme Court ruled that the Japanese companies were obligated to reimburse the victims for stolen wages, but the companies in question refused to comply. In response, the South Korean government threatened to seize Japanese assets, and a trade war began.

Donald Trump has expressed annoyance at the suggestion of playing a role in negotiating agreements between the two countries.

In the past, American leadership has served to mitigate the consequences of the two countries’ dispute. Most recently, in 2016 the Obama administration played a significant role in encouraging Japan and South Korea to sign the treaty enabling the sharing of intelligence about North Korea. But the Trump administration has been reluctant to get involved in foreign politics,  and Donald Trump has expressed annoyance at the suggestion of playing a role in negotiating agreements between the two countries.

Elsewhere in Asia, an ongoing conflict between the people of Hong Kong and China is underway. Although Hong Kong is a part of the country of China, Hong Kong is set up as an independent territory operating within the country of China, but with a different system of government. Whereas China is governed under one-party communist rule, Hong Kong is meant to be set up with free and open elections. However, Beijing has in recent years exerted increasing control over the Hong Kong political crisis, and many residents of Hong Kong consider China a threat to their way of life. As such, massive pro-democracy protests are taking place throughout Hong Kong, and China has responded by increasing their military presence at the Hong Kong border. Notably absent from the conversation is the United States, which usually speaks out in support of democratic efforts that take place around the world. President Trump, as with the conflict between South Korea and Japan, doesn’t see why he should get involved, and instead prefers to show his support for leaders of totalitarian regimes, such as Kim-Jung Un of North Korea and Vladimir Putin of Russia.

Though it may be unwarranted to directly blame a lack of US involvement for these conflicts in Asia, the difference in American leadership around the world before and after the start of the Trump administration is striking. Only time will tell how the absence of a strong American voice in support of democracy will impact world events.