Keystone-SDA
North Korea has tested two “new” air defense missiles, the KCNA agency announced on Sunday, against a background of tensions with the South. This announcement comes after the summons on Tuesday of the South Korean army, a brief foray into the northern troops.
(Keystone-ATS) The border incident was revealed on Saturday by North Korea with a warning against a risk of an “uncontrollable” confrontation, on the first day of a trip abroad, in Tokyo and then in Washington, of the new South Korean president Lee Jae-Myung who tries to revive the dialogue between his country and his neighbor, always technically at war.
The North Korean test shots, which took place on Saturday, demonstrated that these new North Korean anti-missile systems had a “superior combat capacity”, reported the North Corean news agency KCNA, adding that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un had supervised them.
No details have been given on the new missiles drawn, apart from the fact that their “mode of operation and reaction is based on a unique and special technique”.
Combat experiences
Several photographs of the KCNA show air defense missiles in the sky and the brilliance of an interception. Mr. Kim is photographed listening to a North Korean military official, with a pair of twins placed on his desk.
“North Korea is strengthening its air defense missiles against drones flying at low altitude and cruising missiles,” explains Hong Min, analyst at the Korean Institute for National Unification. This testifies to “the awareness by Pyongyang of the need to strengthen its capacities […] Based on the lessons learned from the fights against Ukrainians ”.
According to South Korean and Western intelligence services, North Korea had sent more than 10,000 soldiers to Russia to support its invasion of Ukraine, as well as artillery, missiles and long-range rocket systems.
North Korea announced these tests after having accused Seoul on Saturday of more than 10 warning shots towards North Korean soldiers who had briefly crossed on Tuesday, in the demilitarized area (DMZ) separating the two countries.
Low relations
Confirming the incident, the army of the South clarified monitoring “closely the movements of the North Korean troops”. The UN command estimated the number of soldiers who crossed the border at 30, the South Korean news agency Yonhap said on Sunday.
The two countries have been technically at war for more than seven decades, the conflict which opposed them from 1950 to 1953 having completed by an armistice and not with a peace treaty.
Relations between Pyongyang and Seoul have been at the lowest for several years, after the North launched a series of ballistic missiles in the violation of UN sanctions last year.
But the tone has changed, on the South Korean side, since the election to the presidency in early June of Lee Jae-Myung at the end of the long period of political chaos caused by its predecessor Yoon Suk-Yeol, which had briefly declared martial law in December.
The new leader said he was ready for a dialogue without prior condition with Pyongyang, who has yet rejected his calls for rapprochement.
He will be received on Monday at the White House by American President Donald Trump, who, during his first mandate had met Kim Jong-un three times, without major advances: Pyongyang has never faltered his military nuclear and ballistic programs.
