On Thursday, North Korea launched two ballistic missiles, claiming that its recent barrage of sanctions-defying tests were required retaliation against joint military exercises by the United States (US) and South Korea.
North Korea accused Washington of “escalating the military tensions on the Korean peninsula” as the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) gathered to consider Pyongyang’s firing of an intermediate-range ballistic missile over Japan on Tuesday.
According to Pyongyang’s foreign ministry, the recent launchessix in less than two weekswere “the just counteraction measures of the Korean People’s Army on South Korea-US joint drills.”
Joint military exercises between Seoul, Tokyo, and Washington have increased recently, including significant naval operations and anti-submarine drills.
In less than a month, the US will make a second visit to the waters east of South Korea with the nuclear-powered USS Ronald Reagan, Seoul announced on Wednesday.
This presented “a major threat to the stability of the situation on the Korean peninsula,” according to a statement from North Korea’s foreign ministry released by the government-run KCNA.
The military of South Korea reported early on Thursday that it had identified two short-range ballistic missiles launched from Pyongyang’s Samsok neighborhood toward the East Sea, often known as the Sea of Japan.
According to their investigation, the first missile traveled 350 kilometers (217 miles) at a maximum altitude of about 80 kilometers, and the second missile traveled 800 kilometers at a height of 60 kilometers.
According to a representative of Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, this looks to be the first time North Korea has fired missiles from Samsok. They appear to be “a different type of short-range ballistic missiles,” he continued, in comparison to earlier launches.
Yasukazu Hamada, Japan’s defense minister, told reporters that it was crucial not to “overlook the substantial advances of (North Korea’s) missile technology” as Tokyo confirmed the launches.