Russia denies North Korean missile fell in economic zone, downplaying evidence

[Boats]

Russia denies North Korean missile fell in economic zone, downplaying evidence
By: Anton Sokolin - NK*News - 07-17-23
Re: https://www.nknews.org/2023/07/russi...ying-evidence/

Experts say Moscow is unlikely to admit ICBM fell in its waters to avoid souring ties with Pyongyang

Moscow’s foreign ministry has downplayed reports that the long-range missile North Korea tested last week fell in Russia’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), despite evidence to the contrary from the Japanese government.

In a Telegram post on Friday, foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said there is “no supportive information” to confirm the DPRK’s Hwasong-18 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) fell into Russian waters, rejecting the conclusions of a top U.N. official.

Deputy minister of foreign affairs Andrey Rudenko similarly cited a “lack of clearly expressed information” about where the ICBM splashed down on Saturday, stating that Moscow is “investigating” the case, Russian state-owned news agency TASS reported.

The diplomats sought to shift the focus to other issues, slamming Washington for provoking North Korea “to build up its defense capabilities” and accusing Ukraine of bombing a nuclear plant in Zaporizhzhya.

Counter to the foreign ministry’s claims, flight data from South Korea and Japan strongly suggests that the North Korean missile did in fact land in Russia’s EEZ.

The Japanese military said the Hwasong-18 fell outside Japan’s EEZ, some 200 kilometers west of Okushiri Island, near Hokkaido. This places the splashdown location within 200 kilometers of Russia’s coastline and likely inside its EEZ.

Apparently relying on this flight data, U.N. Assistant Secretary-General Khaled Khiari stated last Thursday that the Hwasong-18 missile “fell into the sea, inside the Russian Federation’s exclusive economic zone,” the day before. He also repeated the North Korean assessment that the missile flew “for 1,001.2 kilometers to an altitude of 6,648.4 kilometers.”

Map link: https://www.nknews.org/2023/07/russi...ying-evidence/
The splashdown location of the Hwasong-18 missile west of Hokkaido, according to Japanese assessments | Image: Google Maps, Japanese Ministry of Defense (July 12, 2023)

Based on the available evidence, Choi Jee-hyun, an assistant professor at the Law School of Jeju National University, said the splashdown location identified by the Japanese military appears to be “certainly within Russia’s EEZ.”

However, he added that the delimitation of the respective EEZs remains an open question, as “there is no [EEZ] division line between Russia and Japan.”

“Without this division line, each state claims its own EEZ, so that there [are] overlapping maritime areas,” Choi said, highlighting the need for Japan and Russia to conclude a treaty clearly dividing their maritime areas.

He also noted that the proximity of the missile splashdown to Russia’s coastline could pose dangers to the people on the ground.

Go Myong-hyun, a research fellow at Seoul’s Asan Institute for Policy Studies, explained that admitting that the missile fell within Russia’s EEZ would contradict Moscow’s key interests.

“If the missile did fall in the Russian EEZ, then Moscow would be forced to comment on North Korea’s illicit actions,” he said.

“This would vex Moscow and highlight the contradiction in Russia’s behavior, [as was the case when] it refrained from condemning the DPRK’s WMD program while having agreed to enforce sanctions against North Korea’s provocations as one of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council.”

Jeju National University’s Choi also highlighted the friendly relationship between Russia and the DPRK as a factor determining Moscow’s stance.

“From the political perspective, because of the war in Ukraine, Russia needs an ally more than ever,” he said. “That could be the reason why Russia did not criticize North Korea.”

The U.S. condemned the Hwasong-18 launch as a sanctions violation at a UNSC meeting last week, blaming Russia and China for “preventing” the council from confronting the DPRK’s efforts to develop ballistic missiles and weapons of mass destruction.

Russia and North Korea maintain close strategic ties, with Pyongyang openly backing Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine and reportedly supplying heavy weaponry to aid Russia’s war efforts.

Edited by Bryan Betts

Tags: FOREIGN RELATIONS - HUMAN SECURITY / HUMAN RIGHTS & MILITARY AFFAIRS
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Personal note: Interesting post!
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