Berliner Tageblatt - North Korea fires ballistic missile after Seoul's apology demand

Pyongyang has denied responsibility for last month's explosion inside the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) and called South Korea "despicable" on Friday, undercutting overtures by Seoul's civilian leadership seeking a return to dialogue.

Early Saturday, "our military detected a ballistic missile launched from the Wonsan area of North Korea toward the East Sea," Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff said, referring to the body of water also known as the Sea of Japan.

"South Korea, the US, and Japan are maintaining a robust defense posture through close information sharing regarding North Korean ballistic missiles," it said, adding the missile flew more than 700 kilometres (435 miles).

Seoul and the US-led United Nations Command found that last month's explosion inside the DMZ, the heavily mined buffer dividing the two Koreas since their 1953 armistice, was caused by North Korean mines laid on the South side of the border.

North Korea's military has laid mines and built anti-tank barriers along the frontier as part of efforts to permanently seal it off following leader Kim Jong Un's designation of South Korea as his country's "principal enemy" in 2024.

The mines responsible for the blast, which left three soldiers wounded, were believed to have been laid as part of Pyongyang's border fortification work, according to South Korea's defence minister Kang Shin-chul.

South Korea's dovish President Lee Jae Myung had urged Pyongyang on Thursday to return to dialogue, despite his military demanding an apology a day earlier.

Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korea's leader, responded by calling Seoul "really despicable" on Friday and once again denied Pyongyang was behind the blasts.

She ridiculed Lee's latest overture, calling it "the climax of the farce that everyone should watch" and said the military's demand her country apologise was "quite ridiculous."

Kim also warned Pyongyang was "ready for anything" Seoul might do over the mine blast -- remarks followed the next morning by North Korea’s ballistic missile launch.

- 'Escalating' tensions -

Analysts said the launch would be viewed as a show of force in response to the South Korean government's diplomatic efforts, effectively rejecting engagement.

"Seoul called for easing tensions, but Pyongyang answered by escalating them," Yang Moo-jin, former president of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, told AFP.

"The message is that the North is pursuing... confrontation in response to goodwill," he added.

South Korea's defence minister said on Tuesday the military had "a range of necessary measures at our disposal, and we will implement them in stages" to respond to the DMZ incident, without providing further detail.

The South's Unification Minister, Chung Dong-young, also proposed talks to address issues along the border to Pyongyang on Friday.

Kim Yo Jong, however, dismissed Chung's suggestion of talks as a "wild dream and unilateral jargon."

The flare-up comes at a sensitive time when US President Donald Trump's recent overtures to Pyongyang have raised concerns that Seoul -- an ally of Washington -- could be sidelined in potential nuclear talks involving the North.

South Korea's opposition People Power Party on Friday accused Lee of failing to criticise Pyongyang when warranted even as he takes a hard line on Ukraine for publicly disclosing the transfer of North Korean prisoners of war, an arrangement Seoul believed should be confidential.

"South Korean soldiers have been injured, and far from receiving an apology, we have been mocked by North Korea," the opposition party said in a statement.

"We fail to see how selectively turning a blind eye to North Korea serves South Korea's dignity or the safety of its people."

N.Fournier--BTB