North Korea tested an ICBM missile for the first time since 2018 last month, a move that has drawn sharp rebukes from Japan and other nations, the Associated Press reports.
The March 24 launch was the latest in a series of weapons tests that North Korea has conducted this year, AP reports, as it attempts to exert its influence as a nuclear power and force the lifting of sanctions imposed by the United States and other countries.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, speaking from the Group of Seven meetings in Belgium, called the test "an unforgivable recklessness."
"We resolutely condemn the act," Kishida said, according to the AP.
Tokyo’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno reported that the missile flew for more than 70 minutes and probably came down near Japanese territorial waters, the AP reports. Kim Dong-yub, a professor of North Korean Studies at Seoul University, said flight details suggest the missile could reach targets as far away as 9,320 miles. The entire U.S. mainland would be within striking distance, according to the report.
The U.S. and South Korea warned that North Korea was preparing a flight of a new large ICBM missile first unveiled in October 2020, according to published reports. The U.S. proposed the United Nations issue a proclamation denouncing the increase in missile tests in February, but nations led by China and Russia blocked the measure, Al-Jazeera reported at the time.
Zhang Jun, China’s UN ambassador, said U.S. officials should show more flexibility when dealing with North Korea.
“They should come up with more attractive and more practical, more flexible approaches, policies and actions and accommodating the concerns of the DPRK,” Zhang said. DPRK is the initials of North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said the suggestion by China and Russia to ease sanctions against North Korea would "reward bad behavior."
“There’s no reason for this Council to reward them for nine tests in one month and almost as many in the previous years,” Thomas-Greenfield said, according to Al-Jazeera.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the U.S. strongly condemns North Korea's launch, calling it a "brazen violation" of U.N. Security Council resolutions.
“The door has not closed on diplomacy," Psaki said, "but Pyongyang must immediately cease its destabilizing actions."
Critics of the Biden administration blame what they see as its "passive handling" of North Korea as allowing the regime to increase its missiles tests while the world focuses on Russia's war on Ukraine, the AP reports. Actions to curtail North Korea have been symbolic, critics state, while offering open-ended diplomatic talks that North Korea has not expressed an interest in. The reticence to confront North Korea's bold actions could prove a mistake, some critics warn.
Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Seoul’s Ewha Womans University, told the AP that economic and technical problems would not deter the Kim regime to increase its missile capabilities.
“It would be a mistake for international policymakers to think the North Korean missile threat can be put on the back burner while the world deals with the pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine," Easley said.
