The South Korean military said North Korea fired two ballistic missiles into the sea early on Sunday, amid tensions over US-led military exercises in the region.
The South Korean Army said that “two short-range ballistic missiles were detected between 01:48 and 01:58 (13:48-13:58 on Saturday) from the Munchon area of Kangwon Province in South Korea. Japan.
The Seoul Chiefs of Staff said in a statement that the missiles “fly about 350 km at an altitude of 90 km” and described the launch as a “serious provocation”.
Pyongyang on Saturday defended the latest salvo of missile fire as a legitimate response to “American military threats” after several days of joint military exercises between South Korea, Japan and the United States.
This is the seventh missile launch in two weeks.
Japan also confirmed the launches, and the Coast Guard said the missiles fell outside of Japan’s economic exclusion zone.
Japan’s Deputy Defense Minister Toshiro Ino noted that “one of the two could be a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM)”.
Seoul reported in September that it had detected signs that the North was preparing to launch an SLBM, a weapon that Pyongyang had tested in May.
The US Indo-Pacific Command said in a statement that it was “aware of the launch of two ballistic missiles and is in consultation with our allies and partners.”
He also stated that the launch reflects the “destabilizing” nature of North Korea’s missile program.
Sunday’s launches are the latest in a wave involving medium-range ballistic missiles fired at Japan.
On Thursday, the same day as joint exercises in Pyongyang, Seoul, Tokyo and Washington, the American carrier strike group fired two ballistic missiles in the presence of a destroyer of the “USS Ronald Reagan”.
South Korean forces deployed 30 fighter jets on Thursday after two North Korean military aircraft carried out a “formation flight north of the inter-Korean air border.”
The United States moved the aircraft carrier into waters south of South Korea on Tuesday as part of a broader response to the North Korean test.
Analysts believe Pyongyang will continue weapons tests and are confident that the UN shutdown due to the Ukraine war will prevent further sanctions.
The UN Security Council held an emergency meeting last week to discuss the missile launches, but at the meeting, China accused Washington of inciting the launch sequence and “poisoning the regional security environment”.
US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield has called for “strengthening” existing sanctions against North Korea, which China and Russia vetoed in May.
source: Noticias
