April 5: North Korea launched a missile over Japan

North Korea fired, Japan on standby, and the international community disregarded the incident

Since the beginning of the year, the government of North Korea announced its intention to launch a Taepodong-2, a long range ballistic missile carrying a satellite into outer space for alleged pacific purposes, sometime between the April 4 and April 8. It was actually launched on April 5, at 11:30 a.m. Japanese time (GMT +9), over Japanese territory


By ANDRES MACIAS
from Tokyo, JAPAN




Weeks prior to the announced launching date, the international community criticized, disapproved, and condemned what the North Korean government intended to do. Not surprisingly, this was not the first time in which that country received messages of rejection to its nuclear and ballistic missile tests and activities. In 2006, after various of such tests were held by North Korea, Mr. Taro Aso, the now Japanese Prime Minister, affirmed in a public and official statement that "Japan welcomes that the resolution 1695 on the Launch of Missiles by North Korea was adopted unanimously at the United Nations Security Council on Sun, 16 July" arguing that "the act by North Korea is directly related to the security of Japan and Asia".

Reactions from the international community before the launch

This time, Japan, United States, and South Korea, commanded the international criticism towards the launch of the Taepodong-2. Officials of these countries used the context previous to the G-20 Summit in London to spread their voice and call for a referral of North Korea to the United Nations Security Council. BBC News quoted Mr. Osamu Sakashita, Japan's deputy cabinet secretary for public relations, saying that "the launch will clearly constitute a violation of the Security Council resolutions, so it needs to be discussed in the appropriate manner in the council."

In March of this year, Mr. Hirofumi Nakasone, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan, was asked his opinion during a press conference over the warning issued by North Korea of initiating a counterstrike if there was any intention to destroy the satellite they were planning to launch. Mr. Nakasone reaffirmed that even if North Korea prepared itself to send a satellite to outer space or not, such action should be considered a violation of a United Nations Security Council resolution. Therefore, it should be the Security Council at first, which should take the adequate measures. Nevertheless, Japan continued to consider that situation as a possible threat to the peace and stability of the region, and they would do everything to try to avoid it.

The warning of North Korea arose after Mr. Lee Myung-bak, President of South Korea, agreed with Mr. Aso on the issue that Japan should defend itself from foreign threats, including the interception of the North Korean missiles in case they put in danger Japanese civilians or Japanese territory.

Barrack Obama was another one who publicly criticized the intentions of North Korea. He was very emphatic in the need of specific measures that should be taken by the international community and the United Nations. Just after the launch, the United States and the European Union stated in a joint communication that "this action demands a response from the international community, including from the U.N. Security Council, to demonstrate that its resolutions cannot be defied with impunity."

What happened in Japan on April 5?

At 12:00 m. Japanese time, people in the shops and restaurants in Japan were staring at their TV sets worried about what was just about to happen. According to the Japan Times, the US Shared Early Warning missile-firing signal informed the Defense Ministry that North Korea had launched at 11:30. Tension arose within the Japanese government and the Japanese Self Defense Forces (SDF). Japan was ready to use its Patriot Advanced Capability-3 antimissile unit to intercept the North Korean missile. Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada had prepared the national missile defense system in order for the SDF to destroy any element of the launched artifact that could cause the slightest damage in Japanese soil.

One of the sections of the North Korean missile fell into the Sea of Japan at 11:37 a.m., around 170 miles off the Japanese coast. At 11:48 a.m., the SDF didn't need to continue tracking the artifact since there was no more harm over Japanese territory. In that moment, the SDF also sent a recognition mission to be sure where were the boosters left by the launched artifact and to assure that no damage had been done.

Thinking of the measures that needed to be taken in the near future, Mr. Nakasone contacted other foreign affairs officials from the countries that had previously expressed their rejection towards the launch that North Korean wanted to execute. On the first hand he called Mr. Yu Myung-hwan, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of the Republic of Korea. Both agreed that such actions taken by North Korea couldn't be tolerated, and that they would work together very closely in order to obtain from the Security Council a new resolution that condemned future similar actions.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton received a telephone call from Mr. Nakasone at 2:30 p.m. According to the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the diplomatic conversation between them gave as an outcome the consolidation of their joint work and cooperation to take the situation to the Security Council and to determine the measures that needed to be taken from now on.

Finally, Mr. Nakasone held a telephone call with Yang Jiechi, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China, at 3:00 p.m. Mr. Nakasone reaffirmed the intention of Japan to take the matter up to the Security Council, while Mr. Jiechi expressed his full support.

The measures taken after the launch

Barrack Obama continued his journey in Europe, and during a public speech in Prague, he addressed the critical situation caused by North Korea: "With this provocative act, North Korea has ignored its international obligations, rejected unequivocal calls for restraint, and further isolated itself from the community of nations".

His speech was reinforced by a joint declaration offered by the United States and the European Union, claiming the need for a strong reaction from the international community. They agreed that North Korea violated a Security Council's resolution, and for that it should be punished.

The United Nation's Security Council also addressed the issue. Even though the Council didn't formulate a new resolution, as some countries argued it should, a statement agreed by all its members condemned North Korea's launch. The UN also confirmed that that country's nuclear tests clearly violated the 2006 resolution.

On the other hand, North Korea replied this Security Council's statement throwing out of the country the inspectors that the United Nations had established there. And, besides that, it announced its withdrawal from the Six-Party Process. This process consisted of various rounds of negotiation that started in 2003 between China, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Russia, and the United States, to deal with the North Korean nuclear program. With its withdrawal, all the progress achieved until now on had been lost.

In this way, the whole issue of the rocket launched by North Korea ended, leaving great unease on the development of its nuclear power.


(Published: 10.05.2009.)