Missiles fired after Harris calls N Korea a ‘brutal dictatorship’

US Vice-President Kamala Harris said North Korea is a country with a “brutal dictatorship”, an illegal arms programme and rampant human rights violations, issuing unusually strong criticism during a visit to the inter-Korean border yesterday.

Soon after Harris wrapped up her Asia trip, North Korea fired two ballistic missiles late yesterday in the direction of her flight from South Korea, the third such launch in five days.

Harris, in her first visit to the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas, said the heavily armed border area offered a stark reminder of the “dramatically different paths” the two sides have taken.

“In the North, we see a brutal dictatorship, rampant human rights violations and an unlawful weapons programme that threatens peace and stability,” Harris said. “The United States and the world seek a stable and peaceful Korean peninsula where the DPRK is no longer a threat,” she said, referring to North Korea by the initials of its official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

Harris was in the DMZ after arriving in Seoul early yesterday amid simmering regional tension over North Korea’s missile launches and China’s actions in the Taiwan Strait.

North Korea launched two ballistic missiles from north of Pyongyang into the sea off its east coast, South Korea’s military said, about two hours after Harris’ flight departed for Washington.

The missiles flew about 300km reaching a maximum altitude of 50km, Japan’s Defence Minister Yasukazu Hamada said, indicating they were likely short-range ballistic missiles.

The visit by Harris came amid fears that North Korea is about to conduct a nuclear test. South Korean officials say North Korea has completed preparations for what would be its seventh nuclear test and its first since 2017.

Harris and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol held talks and condemned North Korea’s intensifying nuclear rhetoric and a series of missile tests, the latest of which was conducted on Wednesday.

Harris and Yoon reaffirmed the goal of the complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, the White House said. Harris also reaffirmed a US-extended deterrence commitment to its Asian ally, including “the full range of US defence capabilities”, it added.

Yoon’s office said that if the North pushed ahead with serious provocations like a nuclear test, he and Harris agreed to immediately implement “jointly prepared countermeasures”.

North Korea codified its right to use pre-emptive nuclear strikes in a new law early this month. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has said it is developing nuclear weapons and missiles to defend itself against US threats.

On Taiwan, Harris underscored that efforts to preserve peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait were an “essential element of a free and open Indo-Pacific”, the White House said.

US President Joe Biden’s aides have been shoring up alliances to manage China in the region.