North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the sea off its east coast on Wednesday. This came just an hour before its leader Kim Jong Un, who is on a rare visit to Russia, met Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The missiles were launched from Pyongyang and they flew about 650 kilometres, as per South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff. Both the missiles fell into the sea outside Japan’s exclusive zone (EEZ).
South Korea condemned the launch and called it a violation of the UN Security Council resolutions. Japan too protested the launch through diplomatic channels in Beijing.
The UN Security Council resolutions, which were passed with the backing of North Korea’s partners in China and Russia in 2017, banned all of North Korea’s ballistic missile and nuclear weapons activities.
However, North Korea has been conducting regular launches of everything from short-range and cruise missiles to massive intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) that can strike the continental United States.
This latest launch appeared to be the first launch to occur while Kim was in a foreign land on a trip, demonstrating an increasing level of delegation and more refined control systems for the country’s nuclear and missile programs, analysts said.
Kim Jong Un’s rare visit
After Kim’s father passed away and he became the leader in 2011, he did not leave the country for six years. He has made just seven trips abroad and went across the inter-Korean border twice in his 12 years in power. Four of the trips were to China.
In 2018 and 2019 he visited China, South Korea, Singapore, Vietnam and Russia in nine separate trips, but his current visit in Russia is the first since then.
(With Reuters input)