“Based on intelligence we and the Americans have collected, it’s highly likely that North Korea will launch a missile,” Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se told a parliamentary hearing on Wednesday, according to media reports.
Yun said North Korea has a medium-range missile known as the “Musudan” that has a range of about 3,500 kilometres, which would make it capable of flying over Japan. Experts said the Musudan is mainly designed to reach the U.S. territory of Guam, The Associated Press reported.
It’s unclear whether North Korea intends to use medium-range missiles to attack a target, either overseas or in South Korea, or if its public warnings are nothing more than bluster.
North Korea has a history, experts say, of trying to capture the world’s attention around April 15, the birthday of the country’s founder Kim Il Sung.
Canada has not placed a nationwide travel advisory in effect for South Korea, and urges visitors to “exercise normal security precautions.”
However, The Korea Times reported the South Korean government has also detected as many as five movable missile launchers in North Korea’s South Hamgyeong Province as well as two Musudan missiles.
The movable missile launchers are used to transport and launch Scud and Nodong missiles, which have ranges of 300 to 500 and 1,300 kilometres. An unidentified South Korean official told The Times there is evidence North Korea intends to launch the three kinds of missiles at the same time.
On Wednesday night, highlighting the nervousness that’s being felt throughout the Asia Pacific region, the Japanese city of Yokohama’s official disaster management Twitter account inaccurately announced: “North Korea has launched a missile.”
After 20 minutes, the city removed the social media posting.
North Korean officials have not announced plans to launch a missile, but have told foreign diplomats in Pyongyang that they will not be able to guarantee their safety starting Wednesday, The Associated Press reported.
North Korea has also blocked access to a factory park that has been jointly operated in recent years by the North and South. The Gaeseong industrial complex has been highlighted as a rare cultural and economic link between the two Koreas, who do not have diplomatic relations.
Most diplomats and foreign residents, however, appeared to be staying put.
Perhaps repeated showdowns between the two Koreas have caused residents to become more ambivalent about the simmering tensions.
In 2010, in a massive emergency drill held in response to the deadly shelling of Yeonpyeong Island, fighter jets flew over Seoul to simulate an attack by North Korea and residents of the South Korean capital fled to 25,000 shelters.
North Korea’s artillery attack in November 2010 on Yeonpyeong killed four people and was the first on South Korean soil since the 1950-1953 war. That attack came after an international investigation concluded that a North Korean torpedo was responsible for the sinking of a South Korean warship, an attack in which 46 South Korea sailors died.
On the streets of Pyongyang, where The Associated Press is one of few media organizations to have a news bureau, the newswire reports the focus is less on preparing for war and more on beautifying the city ahead of Kim’s birthday.
Soldiers laid blankets of sod to liven up a city still coming out of a long, cold winter; gardeners got down on their knees to plant flowers and trees, and students marched off to school — ordinary springtime activities belying the high tensions.
At the base of Mansu Hill, a group of young people held a small rally to pledge their loyalty to Kim Jong Un and to sing the Kim ode “We Will Defend the Marshal With Our Lives.”
Original Article
Source: thestar.com
Author: Rick Westhead
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