By Jun Ji-hye
North Korea’s latest launch of what is presumed to be two medium-range Nodong ballistic missiles was apparently intended to display its ability to strike any targets in Japan, especially bases of the U.S. armed forces stationed there, according to officials and experts, Thursday.
Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani confirmed Wednesday that one of the missiles fired earlier in the day by the North was analyzed to have landed in Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) 250 kilometers west of the Oga Peninsula in Akita Prefecture at 8:05 a.m.
Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) also said the missiles were fired from near Eunyul in South Hwanghae Province at 7:50 a.m. and that one flew some 1,000 kilometers, while the other exploded just after the launch.
The launch shocked Japanese people because it was the first time a warhead of a North Korean ballistic missile had landed in the country’s EEZ waters, according to Japanese media outlets.
Military authorities and experts believe the North moved the Nodong missiles deployed in Pyongyang to Eunyul in the west of the country and fired them using a transporter-erector-launcher, or TEL, a mobile missile launcher, apparently to show that its missiles have enough range to reach any targets in Japan.
“Firing the Nodong from Eunyul, which hosts no particular ballistic missile facility, would mean that the North intended to display its ability to strike the Japanese mainland while having avoided danger of the missile actually landing on the mainland during its test firing,” said Kim Dong-yup, professor at the Institute for Far Eastern Studies (IFES), a research arm of Kyungnam University.
The Nodong has a maximum range of 1,300 kilometers. If the North had launched the missile near the East Sea, it could have hit the U.S. naval bases in Yokosuka and Sasebo as well as air bases in Yokota and Kadena, according to experts.
Troops stationed at those bases are tasked with being dispatched to the Korean Peninsula in the event of a contingency. The Yokosuka base is a home port of the Seventh Fleet that operates a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, while the Kadena base operates F-22 stealth fighter jets, F-15 jets and E-3 early warning and control aircraft.
Japanese Defense Minister Nakatani told reporters that if the North had fired the missile in a different direction, the western part of Japan would have been put within the range, stressing that a further analysis of the North’s intention should follow.
Nakatani sent aircraft and vessels of Tokyo’s Self-Defense Forces to an impact point to collect debris of the North Korean missile, according to Japanese media.