SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea on Tuesday warned North Korea that using its nuclear weapons would put it on a “path of self-destruction,” in unusually harsh language that came days after North Korea legislated a new law that would allow it to use its nuclear weapons preemptively.

North Korea will likely be infuriated by the South Korean rhetoric as Seoul typically shuns such strong words to avoid raising tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

Despite North Korea’s increasingly aggressive nuclear doctrine, some experts say the country — outgunned by more superior U.S. and South Korean forces — will still unlikely use its nuclear weapons first.

South Korea’s Defense Ministry said the legislation would only deepen North Korea’s isolation and prompt Seoul and Washington to “further strengthen their deterrence and reaction capacities.”

To deter North Korea from using its nuclear weapons, the ministry said South Korea will sharply boost its own preemptive attack plan, missile defense and massive retaliation capacities while seeking a greater U.S. security commitment to defend its ally with all available means, including nuclear one.

“We warn that the North Korean government would face the overwhelming response by the South Korea-U.S. military alliance and go on the path of self-destruction, if it attempts to use nuclear weapons,” Moon Hong Sik, an acting ministry spokesperson, told reporters.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre earlier said the United States “remains fully committed to the defense of (South Korea), using the full range of defense capabilities.” Jean-Pierre said the United States has no hostile intent toward North Korea and that it remains focused on pursuing close coordination with its allies to advance a shared objective of the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

Last week, North Korea’s rubber-stamp parliament adopted the legislation on the rules for the use of its nuclear arsenal. It would allow the use of nuclear weapons if its leadership faced an imminent attack or if it aims to prevent an unspecified “catastrophic crisis” to its people.

The loose wording raised concerns the rules are largely meant as a legal basis for a preemptive nuclear strike to intimidate rivals into making concessions amid long-stalled negotiations over its arsenal. Some experts say the North Korean move is also designed to strengthen the control of Kim Jong Un’s leadership in the face of hardships caused by the pandemic and border closures.

During the parliament’s meeting, Kim said in a speech that his country will never abandon its nuclear weapons to cope with U.S. threats. He accused the United States of pushing to weaken the North’s defenses and eventually collapse his government.

Earlier this year, Kim said his nuclear weapons would never be confined to the sole mission of war deterrent and could be used preemptively if his country’s national interests are threatened. North Korea later approved plans to assign new duties to front-line army units, sparking speculation it was a step toward deploying battlefield nuclear weapons along its border with South Korea.

This year, Kim has also dialed up weapons tests to a record pace by test-launching a slew of nuclear-capable ballistic missiles targeting both the U.S. mainland and South Korea. For months, U.S. and South Korean officials have said North Korea could carry out its first nuclear test in five years as well.

Since taking office in May, South Korea’s new conservative government, led by President Yoon Suk Yeol, has said it would take a tougher stance on North Korean provocation but also offered massive support plans if the North denuclearizes. North Korea has bluntly rejected that aid-for-disarmament offer and unleashed crude insults on the Yoon government.

Seoul’s use of words like “self-destruction” is unusual but it’s not the first time. When South Korea was governed by another conservative leader, Park Geun-hye, from 2013-2017, her government also warned North Korea would evaporate from Earth or self-destruct with its provocations, as the North conducted a slew of missile and nuclear tests.

Liberal President Moon Jae-in, who served from 2017 until this year, championed greater reconciliation between the Koreas. He was credited for arranging now-stalled nuclear diplomacy between Pyongyang and Washington but also faced criticism that such a diplomacy only allowed Kim Jong Un to buy time to prefect weapons technology while enjoying an elevated standing on the world stage.

Find your latest news here at the Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle

The post Seoul says N. Korea will self-destruct if it uses nukes appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.

Details of the missile explosion weren’t immediately known. But the launch, the 10th of its kind this year, shows North Korea is determined to press ahead on its push to modernize its weapons arsenal and pressure its rivals into making concessions amid dormant denuclearization talks.

The North Korean missile blew up while it was flying at an altitude of about 20 kilometers (12.4 miles), a South Korean military official said requesting anonymity because he wasn’t publicly authorized to speak to media on the issue. He said the cause of the explosion wasn’t known.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff earlier said in a statement that the launch made from the Pyongyang region around 9:30 a.m. apparently failed. It said South Korean and U.S. intelligence authorities were analyzing details of the launch. The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command later said that North Korea fired a ballistic missile but didn’t say whether it was a failed launch.

A command statement said the launch didn’t pose an immediate threat to U.S. territory and its allies but called on North Korea to refrain from further destabilizing acts.

Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters that a flight of a ballistic missile has not been confirmed and that Tokyo is working with Washington and Seoul to further analyze what happened.

Experts say past failures still have moved North Korea closer to its goal of acquiring a viable nuclear arsenal that could threaten the American homeland. Of eight “Musudan” intermediate-range missiles tests in 2016, only one of those launches was seen by outside analysts as successful, which led to debates of whether North Korea’s path toward ICBMs had been cut off.

However, the North in 2017 flew more powerful intermediate-range missiles over Japan and conducted three successful test-flights of ICBMs that demonstrated a potential range to strike deep into the U.S. mainland. North Korea’s successful satellite launches in 2012 and 2016 — which were viewed by the U.N. as disguised tests of its long-range missile technology — also followed repeated failures.

The U.S. and South Korean militaries said last week that North Korea had tested an ICBM system in two recent launches, referring to the developmental Hwasong-17 missile that North Korea unveiled during a military parade in October 2020.

In the two recent launches on Feb. 27 and March 5, the North Korean missiles flew medium-range distances, and experts have said North Korea could eventually perform a full-range ICBM test.

The North has said it tested cameras and other systems for a spy satellite and released what it said were photos taken from space during one of the two tests, but it didn’t confirm what rocket or missile it launched.

Observers say North Korea aims to boost its ICBM capability while trying to place its first functioning spy satellite into orbit. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has vowed to acquire an improved ICBM and a spy satellite among an array of sophisticated weapons systems he says his country needs to cope with what he calls American hostility.

The Hwasong-17 is North Korea’s biggest missile, which could potentially fly up to 15,000 kilometers (9,320 miles), far enough to strike anywhere in the U.S. and beyond. The 25-meter (82-foot) missile, which was shown again at a defense exhibition in Pyongyang last year, has yet to 0be test-launched.

The three ICBMs that North Korea tested in 2017 were the Hwasong-14 and Hwasong-15. Some analysts say developing a larger missile could mean the country is trying to arm its long-range weapons with multiple warheads to overcome missile defense systems.

If North Korea makes a new ICBM launch, it would be its highest-profile weapons tests since its third and last ICBM launch in November 2017.

North Korea will likely call its potential new ICBM test a rocket launch to place a reconnaissance satellite in space, not a weapons test. That could invite condemnation but likely no fresh U.N. sanctions, some analysts say, since Russia and China wield vetoes on the Security Council and would oppose it.

Other North Korean missiles tested this year were mostly shorter-range, nuclear-capable weapons which place South Korea and Japan, both key U.S. allies, within striking distance. In January alone, North Korea carried out seven rounds of missile tests, a record number of monthly tests since Kim took power in late 2011.

U.S.-led diplomacy aimed at persuading North Korea to abandon its nuclear program collapsed in 2019 due to wrangling over U.S.-led sanctions on the North. Washington has urged North Korea to return to talks without any preconditions, but Pyongyang has rejected such overtures saying the United States must first withdraw its hostile policies.

In January, North Korea hinted at lifting its 4-year moratorium on ICBM and nuclear tests. South Korea’s Defense Ministry said Friday it detected signs that North Korea likely is restoring some of the tunnels at its nuclear testing site that it detonated ahead of the now-dormant nuclear diplomacy.

The U.S. Treasury Department last week announced new sanctions against three Russian-based entities that aided ongoing development of North Korea’s military capabilities and two individuals tied to those companies. The sanctions block access to any U.S. assets held by them.

HYUNG-JIN KIM and KIM TONG-HYUNG | AP NEWS

Find your latest news here at the Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle

The post Seoul: North Korean missile exploded in air in failed launch appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.