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North Korea Fires Missile Over Japan as South Korea, U.S., Respond

Posted on by kayleij

North Korea has fired a ballistic missile over Japan for the first time since 2017, according to CNN. Though this was North Korea’s 23rd missile launch this year, it was the first directed to fly over their neighboring country – without warning – in five years.

Reports of the launch describe the missile flying 2,858 miles and reaching a top speed of Mach 17 before it landed in the Pacific Ocean. Usually, experts say, North Korean missile launches soar over the Korean Peninsula and into nearby waters rather than passing into Japanese territories. Per CNN, this could be considered an escalation or a threat simply because it’s “provocative to fire a missile over your neighbor.”

This long-range missile was last thought to be tested in January, and there are concerns about why the North Korean government is launching tests again now. Since Kim Jong Un took power, he vowed to strengthen the North Korean nuclear program and this year even said he wanted to move development ahead at the “highest possible” speed. This launch was the fifth within a week’s time span.

In turn, the United States and South Korea responded with their own joint strike package flight and conducted a precision bombing drill – though one of the South Korean missiles failed. Yet, some experts are concerned that shows of force like this, as well as other means of backlash to North Korea, are increasingly ineffective, even coming from united fronts. Sanctions from several nations may be the ultimate step to curbing North Korea’s behavior. The United States has now called an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting to discuss the launches.

With the news breaking just over 24 hours ago, this situation is clearly ongoing and continuing to develop. Yet since the morning of October 4, there have been more than 74K mentions of the words “Japan” and “North Korea” together, reaching approximately 1.73 billion feeds. An overwhelming 85% of these were negative in sentiment.

Many of the themes of content speak to the uneasiness this launch created, with themes surrounding the words “warning,” “alert,” “news,” and “shelter.” Monetary concerns about the implications of the conflict are also prevalent, with some popular words in mentions including “market,” “data,” “forecasts,” and “industry trends.” CNN, The New York Times, BBC News, and other global news outlets are some of the most prominent names discussing this trend, which has the most traffic in the United States.

Social traffic itself is divided, as some conservative pundits are using the launch as an opportunity to promote partisan politics. A repeated mantra is that when Donald Trump was president, North Korea would never have done such a thing, especially launching directly at Japan:

However, this assertion is blatantly false, as North Korea did indeed launch a missile toward Japan in 2017, as many comments and replies point out.

Much of the rest of the top content shared is simple dissemination of news and updates rather than political discourse or arguments. Inevitably, most Western news about North Korea is biased and distorted, though it seems at this point the facts are still continuing to develop. Hopefully the next news surge will soon be telling us of de-escalation.

Author: Kayleigh Jackson

Posted in Tracking News via Social Media Analytics