North Korea fires off more missiles, warning it could turn Pacific into 'firing range'

North Korea fired off two short-range ballistic missiles on Monday morning, Tokyo said, as the powerful sister of leader Kim Jong Un threatened to turn the Pacific into a “firing range,” two days after the nation sent a long-range weapon into waters off Hokkaido.

Both missiles were believed to have splashed down in the Sea of Japan, outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone, after traveling some 400 km and 350 km, respectively, from North Korea's western coast, the Defense Ministry said.

North Korean state media later confirmed the country had fired two projectiles from a super-large multiple rocket launcher as a means of "tactical nuclear attack" that it said could "reduce to ashes the enemy's operational airfield," the official Korean Central News Agency said.

In December, Kim described the 600 mm rocket launcher as an "offensive weapon" capable of delivering tactical — or smaller nuclear bombs intended for use on the battlefield — to anywhere in South Korea.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, speaking to reporters Monday in Tokyo, said Japan had requested an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council following the recent launches. North Korea is banned under a raft of U.N. sanctions from using ballistic missile technology. The meeting was expected to be held Tuesday at 8 p.m. in New York.

The North said over the weekend that it had fired off an intercontinental ballistic missile on Saturday, in what Pyongyang called a surprise drill that demonstrated “actual proof” of the country’s “fatal nuclear counterattack” capabilities.

That launch, which was of a Hwasong-15 ICBM — one of its most powerful long-range missiles — landed in waters some 200 kilometers off Hokkaido’s Oshima Island, inside Japan’s EEZ. The ICBM was estimated to have a range of roughly 14,000 km, putting the entire United States within striking distance, according to the Defense Ministry.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno, the government’s top spokesman, on Monday called the North’s recent launches “absolutely unacceptable.”

“The launch of North Korea's ICBM-class ballistic missile on Feb. 18 clearly shows that North Korea is pursuing the practical deployment of its ICBMs,” Matsuno told a news conference. “Its recent series of actions are absolutely unacceptable, and are a threat to the peace and security of our nation, the region and the international community.”

Matsuno said Tokyo believes Pyongyang could engage in “further provocations” in the near future, “including launching various types of missiles and conducting a nuclear test,” and vowed to continue working closely with the United States and South Korea on the issue.

The South Korean military also confirmed the launches, and in a rare mention of Seoul's warming ties with Tokyo, it said it would continue its security cooperation with "the United States and Japan, and maintain a firm readiness posture based on capabilities to respond overwhelmingly to any North Korean provocations," the Yonhap news agency reported.

The Japan Coast Guard initially said that there had been three launches, but later corrected its announcement to say only two missiles had been detected. Matsuno said the reason for the third erroneous announcement was that the Cabinet Secretariat, which consolidates information from the Defense Ministry and other ministries, had sent a double transmission of the second launch to the coast guard.

Shortly after the launches, the North Korean leader’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, delivered a fiery warning against the increased presence of U.S. strategic assets near the Korean Peninsula, after the United States held bilateral joint air exercises involving a B-1 bomber and fighter jets with South Korea and Japan a day earlier.

“We are carefully examining the influence it would exert on the security of our state,” she said, vowing “corresponding counteraction” if the allied moves are judged to be a “direct or indirect threat.”

“The frequency of using the Pacific as our firing range depends upon the U.S. forces' action character,” she added.

Firing missiles into the Pacific would likely mean sending one of the North's more powerful weapons over Japan — a highly provocative move and something it last did in October.

In her statement, Kim Yo Jong also dismissed some analysts’ assessment that the “surprise” ICBM drill had required nine hours of preparation time, calling the statements "a bid to undervalue the preparedness of the DPRK missile forces."

The DRPK is the acronym for the North’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

We possess “satisfactory technology and capability and now will focus on increasing the quantity of their force," she added.

Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul, said recent statements out of Pyongyang had shown a disdain for international skepticism about its weapons technologies."

"The Kim regime’s claims of short-notice launches are thus intended to demonstrate not only the development of strategic and tactical nuclear forces but also the operational capability to use them," he said, referring to the North's longer-range strategic weapons, which are designed to be used on targets often in settled territory far from the battlefield.

The latest moves come just days ahead of simulated nuclear tabletop exercises between the U.S. and South Korea set for later this week at the Pentagon. Next month, the two allies are also planning to hold annual computer-simulated combined training, as well as joint field exercises that would be bigger than those held in recent years.

The North, which views joint drills between the two allies as a rehearsal for invasion, has vowed an “unprecedentedly” strong response to the exercises.

Tensions over the North’s nuclear and missile programs soared in 2022 as it fired off a record number of weapons in the face of calls by the U.S. and its allies to return to denuclearization talks.

Experts say this year could prove to be even more perilous, with signs already emerging that leader Kim remains determined to follow through on a 2021 pledge to build even more advanced missiles and nuclear warheads.

Chad O’Carroll, CEO of Korea Risk Group, an analysis service that monitors North Korea, wrote Monday on Twitter that the latest missile tests suggest “we're in for a bumpy ride this Spring.”

Pyongyang would now attempt to exhibit “shows of power in real time,” he wrote, attempting to make the U.S., South Korea and Japan “feel a serious cost to their own exercises” and compel them to accept the North’s status as a nuclear power.

“The problem with the emerging situation is that if neither side stand down, it seems it’s only inevitable that at one point or another there'll be a mistake, accident or miscalculation that could drag all sides into serious confrontation,” he said.