What a coincidence! When Kim threw his temper tantrum and threw the diplomats out of the Kaesong Complex, Yonhap reports North Korea test fired some missiles:
The test, believed to be of Russian Styx missiles, comes one day after the communist nation threw out all South Korean government officials from the inter-Korean industrial complex in the North in apparent disgruntlement over the Lee Myung-bak government’s hard-line North Korea policy.
To get a better understanding of this, see DPRK Studies post on the expulsion of the folks from Kaesong and the possible fractures within Kim’s cabinet. This is no surprise, and this happened before when Kim got mad, so this is ruffling the feathers time. Does this mean the six-party talks are off the table? Time will only tell on this one, but it seems to me Kim is running back in his cave and pressing some buttons to cause some alarm.
They said the North was believed to have fired at least four missiles, but that the type could not be immediately confirmed. A Styx missile is believed to have an average range of 46 kilometers.
A North Korean Navy vessel was detected earlier this week in the West Sea in what South Korean officials believed to be part of preparations for a missile launch.
Emphasis mine. Now what in the world is a Styx missile? This site seems to shed some light on what it is (this may be know to other watchers, but this is for reference later):
North Korea routinely conducts missiles tests between March and November, yet it is difficult to dismiss the notion that the recent North Korean tests were devoid of any emergent political and military content. The February 24 test occurred on the evening before the inauguration of South Korean president Roh Moo-hyun; the March 10 test happened a little over a week after North Korean jets threatened a U.S. RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft; and the April 1 test came in the immediate aftermath of Japan’s launching of its first spy satellites. All occurred in the larger context of Washington’s nuclear deadlock with Pyongyang.[4] Given the presence of U.S. Navy ships in the Sea of Japan, North Korea conceivably may also have sought to remind the United States that the North Korean People’s Navy possesses threatening missiles.[5]
Emphasis mine. And according to another report (CNN), the test firing was routine and is nothing to worry about:
South Korea’s presidential office dismissed reports of the missile launches as part of “ordinary military training” by the communist state.
“The government regards North Korea’s missile firing as merely a part of its ordinary military training,” presidential spokesman Lee Dong-kwan told Yonhap.
But in all, it is very interesting this happened once things did not go Kim’s way. Also see ROK Drop.
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