The latest in a flurry of such test fires in recent months, both Japan
and South Korea have reported that North Korea has fired a pair of
rockets off their east coast on Saturday morning. The rockets landed in
the sea, outside of Japan’s territorial water, and did no damage to anything.
Despite noting that nothing landed in their territorial waters, Japan was quick to caution ships to stay well clear of any debris from the rockets. The South Korean government would only say they are monitoring for additional launches.
These reports, and the fact that the rockets landed short of Japan,
point to yet more short-range rocket testing. That has been virtually
the entirety of North Korea’s recent tests, and US officials have
shrugged them off as largely immaterial.
US officials have said recently that they are interested in restarting
talks as soon as joint US-South Korea exercises are over. North Korea
has been angry about those exercises, which they see as a practice
invasion, and has presented their own rocket fire as intended to send a
message about that.
North Korea Fires Rockets Off East Coast, Neighbors Report
Rockets caused no damage, landed in water
Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.
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