North Korea fuels attempt at a “new Cold War” with failed missile launch after Russia treaty

In response to the launch, the South Korean Marine Corps resumed a large-scale shooting exercise on islands near the disputed inter-Korean maritime border in the Yellow Sea on Wednesday for the first time in seven years.

The Marine Corps said its troops fired more than 290 live rounds into the waters off Yeonpyeong and Baengnyeong islands during the drills, using K9 howitzers, Chunmoo multiple rocket launchers and Spike anti-tank missiles.

In 2010, North Korea shelled Yeonpyeong Island during an exercise in protest against South Korean artillery shelling of the sea, killing four South Koreans.

Solid-fuel rockets are considered harder to detect than liquid-fuel rockets because they require less preparation.

Hypersonic missiles are a key element of the North’s five-year defense buildup plan, which is due to be completed next year, said Yang Moo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies.

“This is a political windfall for the North,” he said, pointing out that North Korea is receiving economic benefits and technology from Russia in return for the supply of ammunition and the opportunity to play Moscow off against Beijing and draw both countries closer to itself.

Other projects in the defense plan, which was adopted at the North’s eighth party congress in 2021, included intercontinental ballistic missiles, multiple warhead guidance technology, nuclear submarines and military reconnaissance satellites.

The code name of the exercise “Freedom Edge” is derived from the bilateral exercises the United States conducts with its Asian allies, including “Freedom Shield” with South Korea and “Keen Edge” with Japan.

“Cooperation between South Korea, the United States and Japan, which share the values ​​of liberal democracy, will become another powerful deterrent alongside the South Korea-US alliance,” he said.

On Tuesday, Yoon condemned the signing as “anachronistic” and in violation of international sanctions.

The North’s latest rocket launch came just hours after it sent balloons filled with garbage to the South for the second day in a row on the night of Tuesday to Sunday.

Since late last month, North Korea has reportedly launched more than 2,000 such balloons in response to anti-Pyongyang propaganda leaflets sent by North Korean defectors and activists in the South.

In Pyongyang, North Korean authorities gathered more than 100,000 people at a sports stadium on Tuesday to hold a large “Hate America” ​​rally to mark the anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War (1950-1953), state media reported on Wednesday.

The stadium was “filled with the spirit of avengers who wanted to destroy the enemy that massacred the Korean people,” KCNA said.

Lim Eul-chul, a senior researcher at the Institute of Far Eastern Studies, said: “All these moves reflect the North’s paranoia and growing security concerns, even as it appears to be raising the stakes after signing a new treaty with Russia.”

There are growing calls in South Korea to arm itself with nuclear weapons rather than relying entirely on the US nuclear deterrent. Na Kyung-won, a senior politician in the ruling People Power Party, said on Tuesday that the PPP should make this a party policy.

“It is worrying to see this vicious cycle of escalating tensions with no diplomatic way out in sight on the horizon. Where will this all end?” Lim told This Week in Asia.