North Korea fires four ballistic missiles into sea, angering Japan

North Korea fired four banned ballistic missiles into Japanese waters on Monday, an act that officials in Seoul and Tokyo officials said represented a grave threat to their countries’ security.

South Korea’s chief negotiator to the Six-Party Talks also held emergency phone talks with his USA and Japanese counterparts following the DPRK’s missile test-launch, Seoul’s foreign ministry said.

The firing also comes a day after Seoul quadrupled the award for North Korean defectors and almost a month after North Korea test-fired a new type of missile, the Pukguksong-2, a medium-long range ballistic missile. Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported the White House had explored the possibility of military force and a regime change in its review of strategy for thwarting the regime’s nuclear ambition. Options include direct missile strikes on the North’s launch sites and the possibility of reintroducing nuclear weapons to the South, the Times said.

The programme appeared to be successful, as several of the North’s rockets and missiles failed soon after launch.

The USA has yet to make an official response on Pyongyang’s latest test.

The US newspaper investigated the cyber strategy behind-the-scenes since spring a year ago and uncovered documents suggesting North Korea was a major concern of military officials – a problem that the latest US president, Donald Trump, has now inherited.

Nuclear-armed North Korea fired off four ballistic missiles during the early hours of Monday morning. There has been wider concern that North Korea may conduct tests on ICBMs.

“These missile tests are creeping closer to Japan and we assume North Korea can hit most of South Korea”, Robert Kelly, professor of Political Science and Diplomacy at Pusan National University, told Al Jazeera.

The previous administration’s decision to engage in cyber warfare against the North’s missile program followed a realization that the US missile shields could not reliably shoot down an incoming missile.

Hwang called for “swift deployment” of a United States missile defence system, THAAD, a proposal which has infuriated neighbouring China, the North’s key diplomatic protector and main provider of trade and aid. In his New Year’s address, Kim said North Korea had “entered the final stage of preparation for a test-launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile”. Mr Abe said “strong protests” had been lodged with the communist nation, telling parliament: “The launches are clearly in violation of Security Council resolutions”.

Trump has described the North as a “big, big problem” and vowed to deal with the issue “very strongly”.

South Korean and US Marines participate in joint military exercises, in Pohang, South Korea. It was not immediately clear what type of missile was sacked.

It was not immediately clear the exact type of missile fired, but the tests will be viewed as a provocation by the Trump administration in Washington, which is working on its policy for North Korea.