Japan’s Missile-Tracking Miss: U.S. Stays Mum on North Korea’s Launch

The U.S. Department of Defense has announced that it will maintain information sharing. At the same time, Japan reportedly failed to track North Korea’s missiles, even with information sharing between South Korea and Japan.

Pat Ryder, a Pentagon spokesperson, responded to a question at a Pentagon briefing on the 5th (local time) about whether they had fully tracked the recent missile launched by North Korea, saying, “I will not specifically mention the information.”

“We will continue to consult closely with our regional allies and partners,” he stated. “We are closely watching this area.”

When asked how real-time missile warning information sharing is being carried out among the three countries about North Korea’s consecutive missile launches, he replied, “The three countries of South Korea, the U.S., and Japan have a great relationship and will continue to share information about regional security and stability.”

Earlier, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported that for the first time during North Korea’s ballistic missile launch on the 14th of last month, even though Japan shared missile warning information in real-time with South Korea and the U.S., it failed to track the North Korean missile to the end.

Meanwhile, Vedant Patel, a senior spokesperson for the State Department, said in a briefing on the day about North Korea’s recent consecutive cruise missile launches, “North Korea’s actions lead to instability and risks in the region,” and “We will closely cooperate at the level of the three countries, including South Korea and Japan, to respond to such malicious and precarious behavior.”

He also expressed concern about the deepening cooperation between North Korea and Russia in terms of arms trading, saying, “This kind of behavior and activity is very worrying” and “We will closely cooperate (with our allies and partner countries) to block this.”