Still defiant, North Korea fires another missile

Japan's prime minister swiftly condemned the test – the second time this year that a North Korean missile has fallen close to its shores – vowing concerted action with the US.

SEOUL // North Korea test-fired a missile on Monday which fell provocatively close to neighbouring Japan, the latest in a series of launches that have heightened tensions over Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons ambitions.

It was the North’s 12th ballistic missile test this year – carried out in defiance of UN sanctions warnings and US threats of possible military action.

The launch went ahead despite tough talk from US president Donald Trump, who promised last week at the G7 summit that the “big problem” of North Korea “will be solved”.

South Korea’s military said the Scud-type missile travelled for 450km, and Japan said it was estimated to have fallen into its exclusive economic zone, extending 200 nautical miles from the coast.

Prime minister Shinzo Abe swiftly condemned the test – the second time this year that a North Korean missile has fallen close to its shores – vowing concerted action with the US.

“We will never tolerate North Korea’s continued provocations that ignore repeated warnings by the international community,” Mr Abe said.

“As agreed during the G7 summit, the North Korean problem is the international community’s top priority.”

The North has been stepping up efforts towards its ultimate goal – developing an intercontinental ballistic missile that can deliver a nuclear warhead to the continental US.

Despite Mr Trump’s strident warnings of possible military intervention, secretary of defence James Mattis said on Sunday before the latest launch that a war with North Korea would be “catastrophic”.

“The North Korean regime has hundreds of artillery cannons and rocket launchers within range of one of the most densely populated cities on Earth, which is the capital of South Korea,” he told CBS News.

“This regime is a threat to the region, to Japan, to South Korea. And in the event of war, they would bring danger to China and to Russia as well.

“But the bottom line is, it would be a catastrophic war if this turns into a combat, if we’re not able to resolve this situation through diplomatic means.”

Mr Mattis declined to say what kind of action from Pyongyang would constitute a “red line” for Washington, saying the administration needs “political manoeuvre room”.

The latest launch demonstrates the North’s confidence and its determination to secure leverage in any future negotiations with the US, said Cho Han-bum, analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification.

“Today’s launch is the North’s way of saying to the world, ‘It wouldn’t be easy to make us suspend our weapons programmes even if you manage to pressure me into negotiations’.”

* Agence France-Presse