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At 5:30 p.m. Friday, Japanese media reported that North Korea fired several short-range missiles between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. An hour and a half later, at 7 p.m., South Korea¡¯s Joint Chiefs of Staff issued a one-sentence press release saying, ¡°North Korea¡¯s launch of short-range missiles is part of routine exercises the North conducts in the East and West Seas each year.¡±
When North Korea fired the missiles, an official at the Unification Ministry said, ¡°There are not enough grounds to link the matter with the inter-Korean Ministerial Talks¡± that start Tuesday. There was no attempt to try to explain to the public the essence of the missile launches. The South Korean government was simply hoping there would be no impact on inter-Korean relations.
The problem is that the Japanese public always finds out about North Korea¡¯s missile launches before the Korean public, even though such incidents are a bigger threat to South Korean security. It has become something of a pattern that Japanese media always learn about North Korean missile launches first, while South Korea¡¯s government and military belatedly confirm them. That was the case with the Taepodong 1 in 1998, ship-to-surface missile in March of 2003, an improved ship-to-surface missile in October that same year, an improved former Soviet SS-21 ballistic missile in May of 2005, short-range missile in March of last year, Taepodong 2 in July, and many more.
The South Korean government has settled for three fixed approaches to remain noncommittal on North Korean missile launches. The first is to keep its eyes closed. Last July, when North Korea was preparing to launch a long-range missile, the U.S. and Japan clearly referred to the steps as involving a ¡°missile.¡± But South Korea kept saying it may be a ¡°satellite.¡± When North Korea launched the missile, making it impossible for South Korea to deny it, Seoul¡¯s next approach was to downplay the incident. The president made the famous comment that North Korean missiles are ¡°too shoddy to reach the U.S. and too big to be aimed at (South) Korea.¡±
The other approach is to label as liars or insane people who bring up the possibility of a North Korean missile launch. The government referred to media reports of an impending North Korean missile launch as ¡°fiction.¡± Meanwhile, the government is going ahead with steps to keep government officials and reporters apart, just the way it has been telling the public to be content with whatever information it throws at them. It is seriously trying to take advantage of the taxpaying public.
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