North Korea Fires Short-Range Missiles after Making Threats

North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles toward Japan on Monday in its second weapons test in three days that drew quick condemnation from its rivals and prompted Tokyo to request an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council.

The weapons firings follow an intercontinental ballistic missile launch Saturday and North Korea’s threats to take an unprecedentedly strong response to US-South Korean military drills that the North views as an invasion rehearsal. Some experts say North Korea could use a new testing spree to expand its arsenal and intends eventually to use its boosted capability as leverage in negotiations with the United States.

South Korea's military said it detected the two missile launches from a western coastal town, just north of Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, on Monday morning. Japan said both missiles landed in the waters outside of the Japanese exclusive economic zone between the Korean Peninsula and Japan and that no damage involving aircraft and vessels in the area was reported.

According to Japanese and South Korean assessments, the North Korean missiles flew at a maximum altitude of 50-100 kilometers (30-60 miles) and a distance of 340-400 kilometers (210-250 miles).

South Korea’s military said North Korea’s repeated missile launches are "a grave provocation" that undermine international peace. Japan condemned the launches as violations to the UN Security Council resolutions and a threat to the peace and safety of Japan and the international society.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters Monday that Japan is requesting an emergency security council meeting in response to North Korea’s launches. "We must deepen Japan-US and Japan-US-South Korea cooperation," Kishida said.

An initial security council briefing led by Assistant Secretary-General for political affairs Khaled Khiari was set for later Monday.

The US Indo-Pacific Command said the missile launches highlight "the destabilizing impact" of North Korea’s unlawful weapons programs. It said the US commitments to the defense of South Korea and Japan "remain ironclad."

North Korea’s state media said long-range artillery units on its western coast fired two rounds Monday morning cross-country toward the eastern waters, possibly referring to the same activity its neighbors said were missile launches. The official Korean Central News Agency said the North Korean artillery rounds simulated strikes on targets up to 395 kilometers (245 miles) away.

The North said the launches involved its new 600-millimeter multiple rocket launcher system that could be armed with "tactical" nuclear weapons for battlefield use. Some experts viewed the weapons system as a short-range ballistic missile.

"The frequency of using the Pacific as our firing range depends upon the US forces’ action character," Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, said in a statement carried by state media. "We are well aware of the movement of US forces’ strategic strike means, (which are) recently getting brisk around the Korean Peninsula."

Calling the United States "the worst maniacs," she threatened to take unspecified "corresponding counteraction" in response to the future moves by the US military.

She could be referring to the US flyover of B-1B long-range, supersonic bombers on Sunday for separate training with South Korea and Japan. The B-1B deployment came as response to North Korea’s launch Saturday of the Hwasong-15 ICBM off its east coast in the country’s first missile test since Jan. 1.

Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said, "It is obvious that North Korea is pursuing the practical application of ICBM-class ballistic missiles." He noted North Korea may escalate provocations, including more missile launches and nuclear tests, and stressed the need for close cooperation with Washington and Seoul.

North Korea is extremely sensitive to the deployment of B-1B bombers, which can carry a huge payload of conventional weapons.

North Korea’s state media said Sunday the ICBM test was meant to further bolster its "fatal" nuclear attack capacity and verify the weapon’s reliability and the combat readiness of the country’s nuclear force. In her earlier statement Sunday, Kim Yo Jong threatened to take additional powerful steps over upcoming military drills between the United States and South Korea.

North Korea has steadfastly slammed regular South Korea-US military drills as a practice for a northward invasion, though the allies say their exercises are defensive in nature. Some observers say North Korea often uses its rivals’ drills as a pretext to hone and perfect its weapons systems.

The South Korean and US militaries plan to hold a table-top exercise this week to hone a joint response to a potential use of nuclear weapons by North Korea. The allies are also to conduct another joint computer simulated exercise and field training in March.

Hours after Monday's launches, South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said Seoul placed unilateral sanctions on four individuals and five institutions it said were involved in illicit activities supporting the North’s nuclear arms development and evasion of sanctions.

While South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s government has so far placed sanctions on 31 individuals and 35 organizations for supporting the North’s nuclear ambitions, such steps are seen as mostly symbolic considering the lack of business activities between the rivals.

North Korea has claimed to have missiles capable of striking both the US mainland and South Korea with nuclear weapons, but many foreign experts have said North Korea still has some key remaining technologies to master, such as shrinking the warheads small enough to be mounted on missiles and ensuring those warheads survive atmospheric reentry.

In her statement Monday, Kim Yo Jong reiterated that North Korea has reentry vehicle technology. She also hit back at South Korean experts who questioned whether North Korea’s ICBMs would be functional in real-war situations.

Kim Yo Jong insisted that the nine hours of launch preparation time after her brother Kim Jong Un ordered it included sealing the launch site and evacuating people, and was not long because of shortcomings of the missile system itself.

North Korea set an annual record in 2022 with the launch of more than 70 missiles. North Korea has said many of those weapons tests were a warning over previous US-South Korean military drills. It also passed a law that allows it to use nuclear weapons preemptively in a broad range of scenarios.

Kim Jong Un entered 2023 with a call for an "exponential increase" of the country’s nuclear warheads, mass production of battlefield tactical nuclear weapons targeting South Korea and the development of more advanced ICBMs targeting the US.

Iran will begin enriching uranium with thousands of advanced centrifuges at its two main nuclear facilities at Fordo and Natanz, the United Nations' nuclear watchdog said Friday, further raising tensions over Tehran's program as it enriches at near weapons-grade levels.

The notice from the International Atomic Energy Agency only mentioned Iran enriching uranium with new centrifuges to 5% purity, far lower than the 60% it currently does — likely signaling that it still wants to negotiate with the West and the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump.

However, it remains unclear how Trump will approach Iran once he enters office, particularly as it continues to threaten to attack Israel amid its war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip and just after a ceasefire started in its campaign in Lebanon. Trump withdrew America from Iran's nuclear deal with world powers in 2018, setting in motion a series of attacks and incidents across the wider Mideast.

Iran's mission to the United Nations did not respond to a request for comment over the IAEA's report. Tehran had threatened to rapidly advance its program after the Board of Governors at the IAEA condemned Iran at a meeting in November for failing to cooperate fully with the agency.

In a statement, the IAEA outlined the plans Iran informed it of, which include feeding uranium into some 45 cascades of its advanced IR-2M, IR-4 and IR-6 centrifuges.

Cascades are a group of centrifuges that spin uranium gas together to more quickly enrich the uranium. Each of these advanced classes of centrifuges enrich uranium faster than Iran’s baseline IR-1 centrifuges, which have been the workhorse of the country’s atomic program. The IAEA did not elaborate on how many machines would be in each cascade but Iran has put around 160 centrifuges into a single cascade in the past.

It's unclear if Iran has begun feeding the uranium yet into the centrifuges. Tehran so far has been vague about its plans. But starting the enrichment at 5% gives Tehran both leverage at negotiations with the West and another way to dial up the pressure if they don't like what they hear. Weapons-grade levels of enrichment are around 90%.

Since the collapse of Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers following the US’ unilateral withdrawal from the accord in 2018, it has pursued nuclear enrichment just below weapons-grade levels. US intelligence agencies and others assess that Iran has yet to begin a weapons program.

The US State Department said in a statement to The Associated Press it was “deeply concerned with Iran’s announcement that it is choosing the path of continued escalation as opposed to cooperation with the IAEA.”

"Iran’s continued production and accumulation of uranium enriched up to 60% has no credible civilian justification," it added.

Iran, as a signatory to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, has pledged to allow the IAEA to visit its atomic sites to ensure its program is peaceful. Tehran also had agreed to additional oversight from the IAEA as part of the 2015 nuclear deal, which saw sanctions lifted in exchange for drastically limiting its program.

However, for years Iran has curtailed inspectors’ access to sites while also not fully answering questions about other sites where nuclear material has been found in the past after the deal's collapse.

Iranian officials in recent months, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian, had signaled a willingness to negotiate with the West. But Iran also has launched two attacks on Israel amid the war.

Kazem Gharibabadi, an Iranian diplomat, said in a post on the social platform X that he met with EU diplomat Enrique Mora, criticizing Europe as being “self-centered" while having "irresponsible behavior.”

“With regard to the nuclear issue of Iran, Europe has failed to be a serious player due to lack of self-confidence and responsibility,” Gharibabadi wrote.

For his part, Mora described having a “frank discussion” with Gharibabadi and another Iranian diplomat. Those talks included “Iran’s military support to Russia that has to stop, the nuclear issue that needs a diplomatic solution, regional tensions (important to avoid further escalation from all sides) and human rights,” he wrote on X.

North Korea Fires Short-Range Missiles after Making Threats