Just a month after Japan ordered its military to a "state of alert," and as world leaders gather in China for the G-20 summit, AP reports that North Korea fired three ballistic missiles off its east coast Monday, Japanese Prime Minister Abe "strongly condemned" the actions, as the missiles fell into Japan's air defense zone, declaring the launch a clear violation of UN Security Council resolutions.
As AP reports, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement that the three missiles, launched from the western North Korean town of Hwangju, flew across the country before splashing in the waters off its east coast, but officials did not describe the range of the missiles.
Before the firing, on Monday on the sidelines of the G-20 summit, South Korean President Park Geun-hye criticized the North for what she called provocations that are hurting Seoul-Beijing ties.
The launch comes four days before the 68th anniversary of the founding of North Korea's government, and days after South Korean and U.S. troops ended annual joint summertime military drills, which North Korea regularly describes as a dress rehearsal for invasion.
Last month, worries about the North's weapons programs deepened after a missile from a North Korean submarine flew about 500 kilometers (310 miles), the longest distance achieved by the North for such a weapon.
The U.N. Security Council in late August strongly condemned four North Korean ballistic missile launches in July and August. It called them "grave violations" of a ban on all ballistic missile activity.
Japan's HNK reports…
The 3 missiles North Korea launched at 12:13pm likely fell in Japan’s Exclusive Economic Zone.
As Japan steps up its rhetorical reaction to Un's actions…
- *JAPAN PM'S OFFICE: STRONGLY PROTEST N. KOREAN MISSILE LAUNCH
- *JAPAN: LAUNCH A CLEAR VIOLATION OF UN SEC. COUNCIL RESOLUTIONS
- *MISSILES THAT N. KOREA FIRED MAY HAVE BEEN RODONG: YONHAP
- *N. KOREA MISSILE FELL INTO JAPAN'S AIR DEFENSE ZONE: YONHAP
- *YONHAP NEWS CITES S. KOREA'S JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF
As The Wall Street Journal reports, the missile launch came just horus after the Chinese and South Korean presidents met to discuss Pyongyang’s growing threat…
Chinese President Xi Jinping and South Korean President Park Geun-hye aired their differences in tackling North Korea’s missile and nuclear program on the sidelines of the Group of 20 meeting in Hangzhou, China, on Monday morning.
During the meeting Mr. Xi reiterated China’s opposition to the deployment of a U.S.-built antimissile system in South Korea, saying that “mishandling the issue is not conducive to strategic stability in the region, and could intensify conflicts,” according to China’s official Xinhua News Agency.
Mr. Xi also said that China is committed to peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula, including its denuclearization, according to Xinhua.
In July, South Korea and the U.S. announced plans to deploy a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense system in South Korea by the end of 2017 to better defend against North Korea’s accelerating missile threat.
North Korea has stepped up its nuclear bomb and missile testing this year, including the first successful launches of missiles from a mobile carrier and a submarine. Such missiles represent a new threat because they are harder to track before launch.
Ms. Park said that if North Korea’s nuclear and missile threat could be resolved there would be no need to introduce the missile shield, according to South Korean national news agency Yonhap.
U.S. President Barack Obama is also attending the G-20 meeting in China. A White House official said administration officials were “closely monitoring these latest provocations.”
Abe has recently stepped up his military's preparedness to respond…
Japan ordered its military on Monday to be ready at any time to shoot down any North Korean missiles that threaten to strike Japan, putting its forces on a state of alert for at least three months, a defense ministry official and media said.
Up to now, Japan has issued temporary orders when it had indications of an imminent North Korean missile launch that it has canceled after a projectile had been launched.
However, because some test firings are hard to detect, it has decided to put its military on standby for a longer period. The order will be reviewed after three months, state broadcaster NHK said.
In other words, the next time Kim Jong-un launches, it may start the next war.
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An increasingly militaristic Japan is something we’ve been warning about for a while. As Liberty Blitzkrieg's Mike Krieger previously detailed…
In case you aren’t up to speed on your Japanese history, the nation’s post WWII Constitution prohibits military action unless it’s in self-defense. Clearly a sensible approach, which is why the current Japanese government, led by the demonstrably insane and incompetent Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, wants to get rid of it.
This story is very important. Not only will this action increase the likelihood of World War III in the Far East, but it’s another important example of a government acting against the will of the people.
Polling has indicated the Japanese public is against a pivot toward militarization and war, but Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is pushing forward nonetheless. In fact, the current legislation to allow overseas military intervention has already passed the lower house of government. This prompted many Japanese to emerge from their decades long political apathy and get out into the streets. It’s estimated these protests were the largest in recent memory.
And here’s what Abe is up to now.
As is typically the case, when all else fails on the domestic front, politicians look to get a war started.
The question is, Krieger asks ominously, what sort of war will this be? If it happens, it’ll be the first fourth turning level war since the nuclear age began. In a best case scenario, world leaders would be at least sane enough not to deploy nuclear weapons. If that’s the case, the conflict would likely focus on financial and cyber warfare. Things that can be extraordinarily destructive in their own right, but would at least avoid a destruction of the human race. Such topics will be explored further in the years ahead.
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On the bright side, at least the US has a Missile Defense System… oh wait!!
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