Wednesday, March 22, 2023
  • About us
    • Write for us
    • Disclaimer
    • Terms of use
    • Privacy Policy
  • RSS Feeds
  • Advertise with us
  • Contact us
DefenceTalk
  • Home
  • Defense News
    • Defense & Geopolitics News
    • War Conflicts News
    • Army News
    • Air Force News
    • Navy News
    • Missiles Systems News
    • Nuclear Weapons
    • Defense Technology
    • Cybersecurity News
  • Military Photos
  • Defense Forum
  • Military Videos
  • Military Weapon Systems
    • Weapon Systems
    • Reports
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Defense News
    • Defense & Geopolitics News
    • War Conflicts News
    • Army News
    • Air Force News
    • Navy News
    • Missiles Systems News
    • Nuclear Weapons
    • Defense Technology
    • Cybersecurity News
  • Military Photos
  • Defense Forum
  • Military Videos
  • Military Weapon Systems
    • Weapon Systems
    • Reports
No Result
View All Result
DefenceTalk
No Result
View All Result

North Korea test fires 2 short-range missiles

by Agence France-Presse
March 2, 2015
in Missile News
3 min read
0
North Korea test fires 2 short-range missiles
9
SHARES
14
VIEWS

North Korea fired two missiles into the sea and vowed “merciless” retaliation on Monday as the US and South Korea kicked off joint military drills, denounced by Pyongyang as recklessly confrontational.

The annual exercises always trigger a surge in military tensions and warlike rhetoric on the divided peninsula, and analysts saw the North’s missile tests as a prelude to a concerted campaign of sabre rattling.

“And if there is a particularly sharp escalation, we could see the North orchestrating some kind of clash on the maritime border,” said Jeung Young-Tae, an analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification in Seoul.

The missile launches came with a stern warning from the nuclear-armed North Korean People’s Army (KPA) that this year’s military drills would bring the peninsula “towards the brink of war.”

The South Korean defence ministry said the two Scud missiles were fired from the western port city of Nampo and fell into the sea off the east coast, a distance of nearly 500km.

UN resolutions prohibit any ballistic missile test by North Korea and ministry spokesperson Kim Min-Seok said Pyongyang appeared intent on triggering a “security crisis”.

“We will respond sternly and strongly to any provocation,” Kim told reporters.

The Japanese government said it had issued a strong protest to the North given the danger such missile launches posed to aviation and shipping.

Missile tests have long been a preferred North Korean method of expressing anger and displeasure with what it views as confrontational behaviour by the South and its allies.

‘Brink of war’
“The situation on the Korean peninsula is again inching close to the brink of a war,” a spokesperson for the KPA General Staff was quoted as saying Monday by the North’s official KCNA news agency.

“The only means to cope with the aggression and war by the US imperialists and their followers is neither dialogue nor peace. They should be dealt with only by merciless strikes.”

North Korea has threatened attacks, including nuclear strikes, on the US before, although it has never demonstrated a missile capability that would encompass the US mainland.

The largest element of the two South Korea-US drills that began Monday is Foal Eagle, an eight-week exercise involving air, ground and naval field training, with around 200 000 Korean and 3 700 US troops.

The other is a week-long, largely computer-simulated joint drill called Key Resolve.

Seoul and Washington insist the exercises are defence-based in nature, but they are regularly condemned by Pyongyang as provocative rehearsals for invasion.

Retaliation threat
The KPA spokesperson said North Korea would respond in kind to any act of conventional, nuclear or cyber warfare.

“In case even a single shell drops on any place over which the sovereignty of the DPRK (North Korea) is exercised, it will promptly take counteractions,” he said

North Korea has carried out three nuclear tests, in 2006, 2009 and 2013.

In January, the North offered a moratorium on further tests if this year’s joint drills were cancelled, a proposal rejected by Washington as an “implicit threat” to carry out a fourth atomic detonation.

Analyst Jeung said Pyongyang was unlikely to conduct a fourth test just to protest against the exercises.

“Nuclear tests carry more significance than that,” he said, noting that the North’s testing schedule was primarily driven by technical development.

“On the other hand, there is the chance of a mid- or long-range missile test,” Jeung told AFP.

“I would say that a demonstration that it could deliver a nuclear warhead would be more threatening to the world than an actual nuclear test,” he added.

A new research report by US experts published last week estimated that North Korea could be on track to have an arsenal of 100 nuclear weapons by 2020.

In a further sign of rising tensions, the North Korean state-run website, Uriminzokkiri, warned Monday of a fierce response to any attempt by South Korean activists to float anti-Pyongyang leaflets across the border by balloon.

“The response might not just be a few shots of gunfire but cannons or missiles,” the website said.

Tags: exercisemissile testmissilesnorth koreasouth korea
Previous Post

US spy chief predicts spring attack on Ukraine port

Next Post

Exercise Spartan Pegasus demonstrates joint military partnership

Related Posts

Hwasong-17 ICBM

North Korea fires ‘long-range’ missile as S. Korea president heads to Japan

March 16, 2023

North Korea fired a "long-range ballistic missile" Thursday, Seoul said, as South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol headed to Tokyo...

North Korea fires multiple suspected cruise missiles

North Korea fires two ballistic missiles, Seoul says

March 14, 2023

North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles Tuesday, Seoul said, Pyongyang's second launch in three days and the first since...

Next Post
Exercise Spartan Pegasus demonstrates joint military partnership

Exercise Spartan Pegasus demonstrates joint military partnership

Latest Defense News

Hwasong-17 ICBM

North Korea fires ‘long-range’ missile as S. Korea president heads to Japan

March 16, 2023
North Korea fires multiple suspected cruise missiles

North Korea fires two ballistic missiles, Seoul says

March 14, 2023
Australia to get nuclear submarines in new US, British partnership

Australia to buy US nuclear subs in ambitious new pact

March 14, 2023
Su-35 Fighter Aircraft, Russian Air Force

Iran says deal reached to buy Russian fighter jets

March 13, 2023
Made in China: Saudi-Iran deal goes beyond Middle East, say analysts

Made in China: Saudi-Iran deal goes beyond Middle East, say analysts

March 13, 2023
North Korea says Kim ordered test of ‘new type’ of ICBM

North Korea adopts war deterrence measures: state media

March 13, 2023

Defense Forum Discussions

  • Indonesian Aero News
  • Australian Army Discussions and Updates
  • Royal Australian Air Force [RAAF] News, Discussions and Updates
  • Singapore’s DIS established
  • China - Geostrategic & Geopolitical.
  • Royal New Zealand Air Force
  • Foreign Interference in Canada
  • NZDF General discussion thread
  • Royal Danish Navy
  • The Russian-Ukrainian War Thread
DefenceTalk

© 2003-2020 DefenceTalk.com

Navigate Site

  • Defence Forum
  • Military Photos
  • RSS Feeds
  • About us
  • Advertise with us
  • Contact us

Follow Us

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Defense News
    • Defense & Geopolitics News
    • War Conflicts News
    • Army News
    • Air Force News
    • Navy News
    • Missiles Systems News
    • Nuclear Weapons
    • Defense Technology
    • Cybersecurity News
  • Military Photos
  • Defense Forum
  • Military Videos
  • Military Weapon Systems
    • Weapon Systems
    • Reports

© 2003-2020 DefenceTalk.com