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North Korea’s state-run Rodong Sinmun reported on Feb. 19 that it had carried out a surprise launch of a Hwasong-15 ICBM, the same model pictured here, on Feb. 18 under the direction of Kim Jong-un. (KCNA/Yonhap)

North Korea test-launched a Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile on Saturday afternoon, announcing its plans to show hostile forces its “powerful physical nuclear deterrent.”

The show of force is being interpreted as a response to developments including the scheduled 2023 Freedom Shield joint military exercises planned by South Korea and the US in mid-May, along with the US’ recent convening of a UN Security Council meeting targeting North Korea.

In South Korea, the administration of President Yoon Suk-yeol responded by holding unscheduled joint aerial exercises with the US on Sunday using the B-1B strategic bomber — a US strategic asset — and asserting that “peace on the Korean Peninsula is maintained through great force.”

The tit-for-tat shows of force with strategic assets by North Korea on the one side and South Korea and the US on the other are rapidly ratcheting up military tensions on the peninsula.

In an article published Sunday, North Korea’s Rodong Sinmun newspaper wrote, “On the honorable combat orders [of the Missile General Bureau], the First Red Flag Hero Company made a high-angle launch of Hwasongpho-15 through the maximum range system at Pyongyang International Airport on Saturday afternoon.”

The newspaper said “the drill was suddenly organized without previous notice” following a “written order by the chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Workers’ Party of Korea” — that is, Kim Jong-un.

“The missile traveled up to a maximum altitude of 5,768.5 km and flew 989 km for 4,015 seconds [66 minutes and 55 seconds] before accurately hitting the pre-set area in open waters of the East Sea of Korea,” the paper said.

The newspaper also described the test as a “powerful physical nuclear deterrent” against “hostile forces.”

This was the first time North Korea launched a missile in 48 days, the previous launch being when it fired a short-range ballistic missile from a “super-large multiple rocket launcher” on Jan. 1.

Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of Kim Jong-un and a high-ranking party official, published a statement under her own name in the Korean Central News Agency on Sunday, the day after the unexpected test launch of the Hwasong-15.

“We will watch every movement of the enemy and take corresponding and very powerful and overwhelming counteraction against its every move hostile to us,” said Kim, whose official rank is vice department director of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea.

Kim’s remarks seem designed to place blame for the ballistic missile launch on “provocations” by South Korea and the US to hint that North Korea could carry out additional military actions in the event that hostile actions against the North are repeated.

North Korea claimed in a statement by the spokesperson of its Foreign Ministry on Friday that it has refrained “from any special military action” so far this year and that “the US and South Korea have resorted to the worrying military demonstration from the outset of the year to seriously encroach upon the security interests of the DPRK,” using an acronym for North Korea’s official name.

While North Korea test-fired ballistic missiles on 18 of 105 days between Sept. 8, 2022, when it legally endorsed its nuclear policy, and the end of the year, it has only fired ballistic missiles two times so far this year. That’s also just one-third of the missile activity compared to the same period in 2022.

North Korea seems to be saying that despite such restraint, South Korea and the US have been cranking up hostile behavior against it this year, such as by stepping up joint military activities.

North Korea’s behavior seems to be partly motivated by the fact that South Korea and Japan, under the auspices of the US, have been pushing the UN Security Council to adopt another sanctions resolution against the North.

The recent convocation of the Security Council was addressed in the statement by the Foreign Ministry spokesperson, who said that US actions “have gone to the extremes that cannot be allowed any longer” and warned that North Korea “will be compelled to reconsider measures for additional actions.” Then Kim Yo-jong herself said that the Security Council amounts to “a tool for [the US’] heinous hostile policy toward the DPRK” and demanded that the US stop trying to “tarnish” the dignity of North Korea.

As for South Korea, Kim said that “we still have no intention to stand face to face with them,” reconfirming Pyongyang’s intention to reject the Yoon Suk-yeol administration’s “audacious initiative,” as it calls its signature unification and North Korea policy.

The South Korean government placed fresh emphasis on its rigid stance that “the only thing North Korea stands to gain through provocations is harsh sanctions from the international community.”

In connection with that, South Korea and the US carried out joint aviation drills involving US strategic assets.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said Sunday that “F-35A and F-15K fighters from the South Korean Air Force and F-16 fighters from the US Air Force carried out a joint exercise in the skies above the Korean Peninsula by forming a combined formation while escorting US B-1B strategic bombers into the Korean Air Defense Identification Zone.”

“The timely and immediate deployment of US forces for extended deterrence in this exercise demonstrated South Korea and the US’ joint defense capability and posture, which is based on the alliance’s overwhelming power,” the Joint Chiefs said.

The South Korean government also commented during a meeting of the standing committee of the National Security Council on Saturday that “peace on the Korean Peninsula is maintained through great force.”

“We will continue making substantial improvements to our defense capabilities through the South Korea-US Deterrence Strategy Committee’s eighth table-top exercise at the Pentagon in Washington on Feb. 22, and through joint exercises and maneuvers in mid-March.”

As South Korea and the US on the one hand and North Korea on the other continue to raise the stakes, the options for mediation or buffer zones that could maintain stability on the Korean Peninsula appear to be diminishing.

While South Korea, the US and Japan have recently been asking the UN Security Council to adopt another sanctions resolution against North Korea, the debate has been stalled because of opposition from China and Russia, both permanent members of the council that hold veto power over any such resolution.

In her statement on Sunday, Kim Yo-jong advised China and Russia that “they should never tolerate the high-handed and arbitrary practices of the US [at the Security Council] but let [the US] know that such acts are in vain.” Her appeal shows the alignment that is forming with South Korea, the US and Japan on one side and North Korea, China and Russia on the other.

That explains the desperate appeals for Korea’s neighbors to exercise restraint and adjust their policies to prevent an unplanned military clash on the Korean Peninsula.

By Lee Je-hun, senior staff writer

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