North Korea yesterday test-fired a two-stage ballistic missile which overflew Japanese sovereign territory and landed in the North Pacific Ocean. The launch, the first since a short-range missile was fired into the Sea of Japan in 1994, sent ripples of concern across the Asia-Pacific region, and prompted the Japanese Prime Minister, Mr Keizo Obuchi, to warn that Tokyo would take steps in response - specifically withholding $1 billion promised for nuclear reactors in North Korea. South Korean officials had said earlier the missile, fired at noon (4 a.m. Irish time), splashed down in the Sea of Japan, but the Japanese Defence Agency admitted later a second stage had landed in the Pacific Ocean, travelling more than 1,300 km.
North Korea, still technically at war with South Korea, has now demonstrated it has the capability of hitting cities and military bases in Japan, including the US base in Okinawa, and in Russia, China, South Korea and Taiwan.
Japan's vice-Foreign Minister, Mr Shunji Yanai, said there was "no evidence" to suggest the launch was anything but a test. Japan knew of North Korea's plans and pleaded with Pyongyang to stop the launch on several occasions, a foreign ministry official said.
In Washington, a Pentagon official said the Defence Department viewed the launch as a serious development. A South Korea defence ministry official said the missile, which was not believed to have carried any type of warhead, was the new Daepodong 1, a midrange missile, with a range of about 1,500 kms. The Stalinist regime is also reported to be developing the Daepodong-2, with a range of 4,000 km range - which would bring Midway Island in the Pacific within striking distance.
The launch exposed weaknesses in Russia's missile defence system. Officials from the agency which controls Russia's main early warning systems said they had not detected the missile, claiming it had veered off its original course.
A military official in Russia's Far East said an American Orion spy plane was flying around in the area and was thus able to spot the rocket's launch and fall. The Japanese Defence Agency at first said the missile landed in the sea between Vladivostok and northern Japan at a latitude of 40 north and 134 east longitude, apparently in Russian territorial waters.
The test-firing comes as the United States and North Korea bicker over a four-year-old agreement whereby the North would suspend its nuclear programme in return for western-funded reactors and fuel oil.
The demonstration of increased fire power may have been timed to boost morale among the people and the military. The firing may also be commercially motivated. North Korea is alleged by US analysts to export $1 billion worth of military hardware, including missiles, to countries like Pakistan and Iran every year.
In June, Pyongyang promised to continue to develop, test and deploy missiles, saying that US-imposed economic sanctions in force since the end of the Korean War 45 years ago had forced it to export missiles to raise funds. The country has been badly afflicted by alternating droughts and floods and has few if any foreign reserves to buy food. The missile launch is, moreover, a reminder to the United States of North Korean fire power at a time when negotiations are stalled over North Korea's nuclear programme.
Washington and Pyongyang agreed four years ago that North Korea would freeze its nuclear development in exchange for two light-water reactors, to be built by a consortium led by the US, South Korea and Japan. Washington also promised 500,000 tonnes of fuel oil annually as an alternative energy source until the reactors are operating, but the US Congress has blocked funds for the oil because of reports North Korea supplied missiles to Pakistan.
Coincidentally yesterday South Korea announced an agreement to pay for 70 per cent of the $4.6 billion cost of the two nuclear reactors, with work starting on October. There have, however, been US-inspired reports recently that North Korean workers had been seen digging the foundations for a new nuclear complex which would mean it had abandoned the agreement, but this has not been officially confirmed by Washington. US Secretary of State, Ms Madeleine Albright, said during a visit to Bosnia that the US would raise the issue with North Korea in contacts in New York.
North Korea's 700-seat Supreme People's Assembly is due to convene on Saturday for the first time in more than four years and de facto leader, Mr Kim Jong-il, is expected to be formally elected state president, succeeding his father Kim Il-sung who died in 1994.
Pyongyang is preparing a grand ceremony to mark the 50th anniversary of the state on September 9th. Rumours about internal schisms abound however. A Japanese newspaper reported last Saturday that top North Korean military officials plotted a coup d'etat in March but were foiled by Mr Kim Jong-il. The North Korean military brass aligned themselves behind Mr Kim's stepmother, Ms Kim Song-ae, the Sankei Shimbun reported. Military officials were allegedly planning to form a group on March 17th that would try to topple Mr Kim from power, but he was tipped off and crushed the coup attempt, arresting several thousand members of the military.
On March 16th, the day before the coup plotters were reportedly to have met, North Korea started a "wartime mobilisation". Diplomats at the time said it was an annual exercise. On April 25th, official North Korean news agency KCNA reported that Ms Kim Song-ae, widow of Kim Ilsung, had been ousted from a party committee chair she held for 27 years and she was not re-elected chairwoman of the Korean Democratic Women's Union.