The fact that North Korea has been launching missiles to protest the Freedom Shield exercise is about the most unsurprising news of the past week:
North Korea fired a short-range ballistic missile on Sunday in yet another provocation amid South Korea’s combined military exercise with the United States.
Korea Times
The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said that it detected the missile launched from Dongchang-ri, North Korea’s key long-range rocket shooting site in its northwestern coast, at 11:05 a.m. It flew about 800 kilometers across land before falling into the waters off its east coast.
It was North Korea’s fourth weapons test apparently targeting the Freedom Shield exercise that began last Monday. On Thursday, only several hours before President Yoon Suk Yeol’s summit with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Tokyo, the North fired a Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile into the East Sea between the two countries ― after launching two short-range ballistic missiles on March 14 and two cruise missiles from a submarine on March 12.
You can read more at the link.
Nothing new here, but probably good to occasionally repeat this so the Kim regime continues to understand that using new nukes will immediately end their rule over North Korea:
Any use of nuclear weapons by North Korea will be the end of the reclusive regime in Pyongyang, a U.S. Department of Defense spokesperson said Tuesday, amid concerns of a nuclear test by the reclusive country.
Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder also reiterated that the U.S. remains committed to deterring aggression.
“I think we have been very clear that were North Korea to employ a nuclear weapon, it would be the end of the North Korean regime,” the department press secretary told a daily press briefing.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
How nice of North Korea to launch some fireworks before the start of the Freedom Shield exercise next month:
North Korea fired a short-range ballistic missile toward the Yellow Sea on Thursday, Seoul’s military said, in the latest show of force ahead of a major South Korea-U.S. military exercise set to begin next week.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected the launch from the North’s western port city of Nampo at 6:20 p.m. It did not elaborate further.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
Kim Yo-jong is out making wild threats as usual before next weeks US-ROK Freedom Shield exercise:
Kim Yo-jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, warned Tuesday the North is ready to take “overwhelming” actions against military activities by the United States and South Korea, as its rivals are staging joint military drills involving American strategic assets.
Kim also warned the North will regard any U.S. attempt to intercept a missile that it will fire as a “clear declaration of war” against the reclusive nation, according to the North’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
“As already clarified, we keep our eye on the restless military moves by the U.S. forces and the south Korean puppet military and are always on standby to take appropriate, quick and overwhelming action at any time according to our judgment,” Kim said in an English-language statement carried by the state-run media.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link, but all the U.S. is only going to intercept a missile if it fired at areas that threaten U.S. or allied territory. The U.S. Aegis ships and THAAD batteries provide terminal missile defense which means it does intercepts while the threat missile is descending from the atmosphere. This means the U.S. would need to know the area where the missile is descending to shoot it down. That is why these assets are located in areas that military commanders want protected such as the THAAD batteries in South Korea and Guam.
The U.S. also has the GMD system with interceptors located in Alaska and California to protect the U.S. homeland. If North Korea fires a missile any where near the U.S. homeland of course it will be intercepted.
I think this will be North Korea’s excuse to launch ICBM technology over neighboring countries by claiming they are satellite launches:
North Korea’s development of a high-thrust engine capable of carrying a rocket has provided a “sure guarantee” for the country to launch various satellites into orbit, according to state media Monday.
Pak Kyong-su, vice director of the National Aerospace Development Administration, made the remarks amid speculation the North is likely to put a military spy satellite into orbit by April.
In an interview by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Sunday on the occasion of the 14th anniversary of the North’s accession to the international outer space treaty, Pak said the North has made “steady” progress in the work to develop “multi-functional and high-performance” satellites.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
