North Korea Ramps Up Ballistic Missile Tests
North Korea fired two ballistic missiles and flew a dozen warplanes by South Korea on Thursday, in provocative military exercises that have alarmed its neighbors and fueled fears of further escalation.
Thursday’s events come after a recent spate of North Korean ballistic missile launches and cap more than 40 missile tests just this year. On Tuesday, it also fired a ballistic missile over Japan for the first time since 2017, sparking panic and forcing Tokyo to issue an evacuation warning.
Ankit Panda, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said the latest tests are part of a “familiar pattern” of years of missile launches and operational exercises—though they have grown more intense in recent months.
The primary purpose behind the recent launches, he said, is likely operational training—testing capabilities, collecting performance data, and conducting a process of testing and evaluation—while also sending a crucial political signal.
“It’s really a show of force; a show of resolve; a show of capability in general,” he said.
That has rattled Seoul and Tokyo, who have scrambled to respond by showcasing their own military capabilities. After North Korea fired the missile over Japan, U.S. and South Korean forces held joint military drills—which Pyongyang then criticized as a “serious threat to the stability.” On Thursday, U.S., Japanese, and South Korean warships also participated in joint exercises in the Sea of Japan.
We’re seeing “a bit of a spiraling dynamic” as the countries respond to each others’ missile launches with new tests of their own, Panda said. “That leads to, I think, a dangerous dynamic where eventually we could be seeing an increased risk of misperception or miscalculation.”
At the United Nations, U.S. diplomats have accused Russia and China of stymying efforts to penalize North Korea for its ballistic missile tests—which are prohibited under U.N. security council resolutions—and thereby facilitating its escalations. Moscow and Beijing have in turn blamed Washington for instigating the tests.
North Korea “has enjoyed blanket protection from two members of this council,” said Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, while adding that they have “enabled Kim Jong Un.”