Missile launches risky gambit by N. Korea to make U.S. take notice

Pyongyang carried out two atomic tests previous year and a series of missile launches, but Monday was only the second time its devices had entered Japan’s EEZ.

Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (centre) speaks to reporters in Tokyo, August 3, 2016, condemning a ballistic missile launch by North Korea.

North Korea’s missile launch also coincided with US and South Korean military’s annual exercise.

After calling a meeting of the National Security Council’s Standing Committee on Monday morning, South Korea’s acting president, Hwang Kyo-ahn, said the launch signaled “a real and imminent threat to the safety of our people”.

After that, Kim Jong Un’s regime is suspected of ordering the assassination on the leader’s half brother, Kim Jong Nam, who was attacked with a chemical weapon at Kuala Lumpur airport and died within 20 minutes.

A year ago the country conducted two nuclear tests and numerous missile launches in its quest to develop a nuclear weapons system capable of hitting the continental U.S.

There were fears initially that the projectiles were intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), which are capable of reaching the west of the U.S. mainland if launched at a high angle. Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average NIK, -0.51% fell 0.5% as some of the missiles fell within its Exclusive Economic Zone.

“New types of strategic weapons will soar” if the annual drills continue, the official Rodong Sinmun newspaper said in a commentary on Friday.

The launches come days after Washington and Seoul began major military exercises on the Korean Peninsula. The F-35 is capable of carrying out precision strikes without being detected by North Korea’s air defense network.

Iit conducted its fifth and most powerful nuclear test last September.

South Korean Defense Minister Han Min-koo reiterated confidence in Seoul’s defense capability, saying any North Korean missile targeting Seoul would be shot down using the country’s own missile defense systems possibly with the support of the THAAD system scheduled to be stationed here this summer.

North Korea has regularly carried out actions in protest against the drills, previous year firing seven ballistic missiles during them.

The missiles landed in water some 300 miles from Japanese shores, sparking an immediate rebuke from the Japanese government even as the White House remained silent.

This is the second missile challenge from North Korea since U.S. President Donald Trump was sworn in.

North Korea may have been sending a message in response to a joint U.S.

The nation is banned by the UN from any tests of missile or nuclear technology.

The efforts to electronically sabotage the missiles before they’re fired are called “left of launch”.