North Korea does not loosen its nuclear pulse and at the stroke of midnight launched two atomic-capable ballistic missiles over the Sea of Japan. Pyongyang says it is responding in this way to the great military maneuvers by South Korea and the United States that end this Thursday, after eleven days. Said joint exercise reportedly once again had the participation of the American B-1B strategic bomber, supersonic and capable of carrying nuclear warheads.
As an alleged response, the North Korean army began its own maneuvers on Wednesday, under the supervision of Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un and Marshal Pak Jong Chon, in a mock repulsion of an enemy attack, followed by a counterattack and occupation of the rest of the the Korean peninsula, according to Pyongyang's explanation.
The exercise by the militarized regime of Pyongyang would be intended "to address the current situation in which the US and ROK military gangsters have conducted extremely provocative and dangerous large-scale joint exercises simulating all-out war against the People's Republic of Korea". The launch of tactical missiles has earned an official protest from Japan, whose Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida, today accused the North Korean government of "threatening peace and stability in the region."
Pyongyang, for its part, warned last week, when Seoul and Washington began the Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS) joint exercises, that they could lead to "thermonuclear war."
After the failure of the denuclearization dialogue between Washington and Pyongyang in 2019, the Korean peninsula has resumed military escalation, with successive missile tests by North Korea, followed by successive joint maneuvers between South Korea and the United States -and occasionally Japan- including deployment of strategic Pentagon assets.
Last month marked the 70th anniversary of the armistice that put an end to the Korean War, at the price of dividing the Koreans. North Korea, which broke its rocket launch record last year, has continued to do so apace in 2023. On a handful of occasions, with intercontinental-range projectiles. It was not the case of those fired last midnight, which exploded in the air after traveling 350 and 400 kilometers. The Japanese government has warned that it will shoot them down if they fly over their territory.
The relative success of these launches contrasts with North Korea's two consecutive failures to put spy satellites into orbit to monitor US bases in South Korea and Japan.
On the other hand, Pyongyang has announced for September 26, a rare session of its People's Assembly. Supreme leader Kim Jong Un - the son of Kim Jong Il and grandson of Kim Il Sung - has strongly criticized the management of the recent floods in the country, which could herald portfolio changes in the communist government. The economic tightness of the North Korean regime is in stark contrast to the prosperity of South Korea, which transitioned to democracy a quarter of a century ago while still being home to some of the largest US military bases abroad.
However, Seoul has seen better times and it has just been revealed that South Korea has had ten consecutive months of falling industrial production (8% in one year), something that has not happened for almost half a century, hand in hand with the decline in exports. Likewise, the progressive strategic and military alignment with Japan - the former occupying power - encouraged by the United States as a political and military counterweight to China, causes resentment in part of the population. This does not view with good eyes, for example, the passivity of the current right-wing government in the face of the discharge of radioactive water from the damaged Fukushima plant, which began last week.
Lastly, a White House spokesman this week accused Russia of increasing its imports of North Korean ammunition with an eye on Ukraine, after the visit of Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu to Pyongyang a month ago.
