S. Korea: North Test-Fires Handful Of 'Unknown Projectiles' Into Japan Waters

Enlarge this image toggle caption Kim Won-Jin/AFP/Getty Images Kim Won-Jin/AFP/Getty Images

South Korea's military says North Korea has test-fired a handful of "unknown projectiles" off its west coast into its east coast waters, further rattling an already uncertain situation on the Korean peninsula under ongoing political drift in Seoul and a new American administration.

The projectiles were launched from near one of the North's known missile bases of Tongchang-ri at 7:36 a.m. local time, or 5:36 p.m. Sunday (EST). South Korea believes at least one of the missiles flew 1,000 km, or about 620 miles. That's twice the distance as the North's most recent missile test, in February.

"North Korea has ignored South Korea and the international community's constant warnings," said Hwang Kyo-ahn, South Korea's acting president, in a statement. "This shows the North's nuclear and missile provocations are a real and imminent threat to our people's safety."

Japan's government says it counted four missiles landing in the Sea of Japan, the body of water between Korea and Japan. It says three of them fell in Japan's exclusive economic zone.

"Launching missiles at this time shows clearly that North Korea has become a new menace for Japan," said Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, before saying he will head to a meeting of the Japanese National Security Council later today.

The U.S. military also said it detected the launch. U.S. Strategic Command spokesman Lt. Col. Martin O'Donnell said U.S. forces "remain vigilant in the face of North Korean provocations and are fully committed to working closely with our Republic of Korea and Japanese allies to maintain security."

These missile tests are banned by the U.N. Security Council, but North Korea frequently flouts the rules. Monday's test marks the second such firing of 2017. Last year, it fired missiles 24 times, launched a rocket (largely viewed as a trial for an intercontinental ballistic missile) in February and tested nuclear devices twice.

Longtime military analyst Daniel Pinkston, lecturer in international relations at Troy University, says he is concerned not only by the missile tests but also the recent assassination of leader Kim Jong Un's half-brother in Malaysia, using a banned nerve agent. Malaysian authorities blame North Korea for his death.

"If they don't pay a price for this behavior," Pinkston said, "and I think they should pay a high price, then they will continue with it."

The latest test comes against a backdrop that's both routine — annual March military drills staged by the U.S. and South Korea that Pyongyang sees as war prep — and unfamiliar. The new Trump administration's policy on North Korea is unclear, at best, and South Korea is in a leadership vacuum as an acting president runs day-to-day affairs in the country. The elected president, Park Geun-hye, was impeached by lawmakers on Dec. 9 and stripped of her powers. Whether she keeps her job is up to a court to decide, likely before the end of this month.

Jihye Lee contributed to this post from Seoul. Akane Saiki contributed from Tokyo.</s>Dec 1 U.S. airlines United , American and Delta, have notified Chinese authorities of flight plans when traveling through an air defense zone Beijing has declared over the East China Sea, following U.S. government advice.

The zone has raised tensions, particularly with Japan and South Korea, and is likely to dominate the agenda of a visit to Asia this week of U.S. Vice President Joe Biden. He will travel to Japan, China, and South Korea and try to ease tensions, senior American officials said.

However, China's declaration of the zone also represents a historic challenge by the emerging world power to the United States, which has dominated the region for decades.

China published co-ordinates for the zone last weekend. The area, about two-thirds the size of the United Kingdom, covers most of the East China Sea and the skies over a group of uninhabited islands at the center of a bitter territorial dispute between Beijing and Tokyo.

Beijing wants all foreign aircraft passing through the zone, including passenger planes, to identify themselves to Chinese authorities.

On Friday, the United States said it expected U.S. carriers to operate in line with so-called notices to airmen issued by foreign countries, although it added that the decision did "not indicate U.S. government acceptance of China's requirements."

A spokesman for Delta Airlines said it had been complying with the Chinese requests for flight plans for the past week. American and United said separately that they were complying, but did not say for how long they had been doing so.

Airline industry officials said the U.S. government generally expected U.S. carriers operating internationally to comply with notices issued by foreign countries.

In contrast, Japanese carriers ANA Holdings and Japan Airlines have flown through the zone without informing China, under an agreement with the Tokyo government. Neither airline has experienced problems.

The airlines said they were sticking with the policy even after Washington's advice to its carriers.

Any sign that the United States was even tacitly giving a nod to China's air defense zone would disturb Tokyo, which is hoping for a display of solidarity when Biden visits Japan starting on Monday.

"We will have in-depth talks about it," Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was quoted as saying by Japan's Kyodo news agency. "Japan and the United States will address it in close co-ordination with each other."

However, he also insisted that the United States had not advised its airlines to comply with Chinese demands for prior notice before their planes enter the new air defense zone.

"We have confirmed through diplomatic channels that the U.S. government didn't request commercial carriers to submit flight plans," he was quoted as saying in the Kyodo report.

And Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera insisted the allies were working in lockstep.

"I believe the U.S. government is taking the same stance as the Japanese government," he said in an interview with public broadcaster NHK.

Separately, Japan's foreign affairs ministry said it had raised China's declaration of the air defense zone with the International Civil Aviation Organization, the international aviation regulatory body and an agency of the United Nations.

It wasn't immediately clear what Japan wanted the agency to do, since it can make no more than non-binding recommendations. But Japan's action puts the issue before a global and multi-lateral body.

Since the zone came into force there has been no impact on the safe operation of international civilian flights, China's Foreign Ministry said on Thursday. Still, China "hoped" airlines would co-operate, the ministry said.

The United States, Japan and South Korea have defied the Chinese move by flying military aircraft, including giant U.S. B-52 bombers, through the zone without informing Beijing.

A U.S. official said China's action appeared to be a unilateral attempt to change the status quo in the East China Sea, which could "increase the risk of miscalculation, confrontation and accidents".

"We urge the Chinese to exercise caution and restraint, and we are consulting with Japan and other affected parties throughout the region," the official said.

China scrambled jets on Friday after two U.S. spy planes and 10 Japanese aircraft, including F-15 fighters, entered the zone, China's state news agency Xinhua said. The jets were scrambled for effective monitoring, it quoted air force spokesman Shen Jinke as saying.

The Chinese patrol mission, conducted on Thursday, was "a defensive measure and in line with international common practices," Shen said, according to Xinhua.

"China's air force is on high alert and will take measures to deal with diverse air threats to firmly protect the security of the country's airspace," he said.

However, Defense Ministry spokesman Yang Yujun said it was "incorrect" to suggest China would shoot down aircraft which entered the zone without first identifying themselves.

U.S. flights were "routinely" transiting the zone, U.S. officials said on Friday.

"These flights are consistent with long standing and well known U.S. freedom of navigation policies," Pentagon spokesman Colonel Steve Warren said. "I can confirm that the U.S. has and will continue to operate in the area as normal."

A U.S. defense official said routine operations included reconnaissance and surveillance flights.

Underlining concern in Seoul over China's move, a defense spokesman said officials were reviewing the country's existing air defense zone, but there was no set plan on whether or not to expand it. It already overlaps with China's new zone in a block 20 km by 115 km, the spokesman said.

Ties between China and Japan have been strained for months by the dispute over the islands, called the Diaoyu by China and the Senkaku by Japan.

Mutual mistrust over military intentions and what China feels is Japan's lack of contrition over its brutal occupation of parts of China before and during World War Two have added to tension.

Although Washington takes no position on the sovereignty of the islands, it recognises Tokyo's administrative control and says the U.S.-Japan security pact applies to them.</s>China published coordinates for an East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone over the weekend and warned it would take "defensive emergency measures" against aircraft that failed to identify themselves properly in the airspace.

The zone covers a large part of the East China Sea, including small uninhabited islands at the centre of a bitter territorial dispute between Beijing and Tokyo.

"It's unsettling to hear the airlines are not filing flight plans, but I understand the Japanese government telling them not to," said Hiroko Niizuma, 36, at Tokyo's Haneda airport before boarding a flight operated by ANA Holdings to Taiwan, where she works as a language teacher.

"Not saying anything would be to acknowledge the Chinese action."

ANA and Japan Airlines on Wednesday stopped sending Chinese authorities their flight plans for routes to Taiwan and other destinations that pass through the zone.

The carriers had been handing over the information since Saturday, but changed their minds after Japan's government told them it would ensure the safety of their flights, a spokesman from JAL told Reuters.

The government, according to the airlines, said it had won an assurance from China that its aim was not to restrict commercial flights, but did not elaborate on how it would guarantee the security of their aircraft.

The Japanese carriers posted a notice of the change on their websites, although passengers said they had not been contacted directly about the revision.

"There was no notification from the travel company or the airline, but I am not particularly concerned," said Norikazu Koizumi, 42, a transport company employee readying to board the same ANA flight at Haneda. "I agree with the Japanese government's action to stop the flight plans from being filed."

By demanding that airlines file flight plans through the zone or risk being intercepted by military jets, China is effectively forcing carriers to acknowledge its authority over a zone about two-thirds the size of Britain.

Other airlines in Asia have said they would comply with the Chinese demand.

JAL and ANA operate about 30 flights a day through the zone, mostly to Taiwan and Hong Kong, with flights to Bangkok and Singapore sometimes diverted through the area depending on weather conditions.

"I think what China has done is outrageous," said Hiroshi Hisatomi, 67, as he readied for the ANA Taiwan flight at the start of a vacation with his wife. "I don't think anything will happen and have no intention of changing my travel plans."

At the Haneda arrival lobby, businessman Shoichi Kobayashi, 46, said he did not feel in any danger while on an ANA flight from Taiwan.

"I was aware of the air defense zone, but I don't know why China would want to do such a thing. The Japanese government must push back hard on this."
According to the Japanese Government, three of them came down in Japan's Exclusive Economic Zone.