North Korea recently test-fired two medium range ballistic missiles and which stirred up a strong reaction from President Obama just after he had hosted a summit with South Korea and Japan.
In confirming the launch of these missile, a Ministry spokesperson Kim Min-Seok also revealed, “The North is boasting its military capability to grab the attention of the international community. This missile is capable of hitting not only most of Japan but also Russia and China.”
Washington promptly responded to these test by condemning them as ‘troubling and provocative’. The US State Department responded saying that there will be ‘appropriate measures’ taken as this is a clear violation of the UN Security resolutions that were passed to prohibit North Korea from conducting such missile tests.
Alternatively, the spokesperson identified these missiles as Rodong-class missiles with a maximum range of 1000-1500 kilometres.
The South Korean Defence Ministry said that both missiles flew almost 400 miles into the Sea of Japan and which escalated tensions further considering earlier tests with shorter-range launches in the week.
North Korean Spokesperson also said that these tests were timed exactly to the day of the summit in The Hague with Obama, the Japanese Prime Minister and the South Korean President.
The trilateral summit between the three countries took place so as to offer a unified response to North Korea but mostly because the relations between Japan and South Korea has been at its lowest in recent times.
And even though these tests could prove to heighten regional tensions, it was clear that there were no more nuclear tests much like the ones conducted by Pyongyang in July 2009.