N. Korea prepares for fifth firing of Musudan missle

South Korean and Japanese authorities have detected Tuesday signs of North Korea preparing to fire the Musudan, an intermediate range ballistic missile, in the east coast of the Stalinist country.

The South Korean military authority said on the day, “We are paying attention, since North Korea is moving to deploy a transporter an erector launcher installed with a missile presumed to be the Musudan in the east coast.” Mindful of the possibility that the North will conduct additional test fire of the missile, the South Korean military is closely monitoring signs.

There are reportedly no signs that missile launch is imminent. Japan’s Kyoto News Agency reported that Washington and Tokyo are paying attention to the possibility that the North will fire the Musudan missile on June 25, the 66th anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War, or June 29, when the North’s Supreme People’s Assembly will take place.”

NHK reported on Tuesday that the Japanese government placed "order to destroy" to its self-defense force in order to intercept a ballistic missile, in preparation for possible entry of the North Korean missile into Japanese territorial skies or waters. Accordingly, the self-defense force deployed an Aegis destroyer equipped with high-performance radars and SM3 interceptor missiles for deployment in the sea from Tuesday afternoon, while beefing up alert and surveillance in earnest.

In Tokyo, the Japanese self-defense air force’s unit of PAC3 interceptor missiles for inland deployment arrived at the defense ministry site at around 2 p.m. on the day, and worked to assemble interceptor missile launchers to be prepared for Pyongyang’s possible launch, according to NHK. From mid-April to end-May, the North attempted to fire the Musudan missile four times in areas around Wonsan in Gangwon Province.

도쿄=서영아특파원 sya@donga.com · 윤상호군사전문기자 ysh1005@donga.com