North Korea conducted a series of three-shot intercontinental missile tests on Wednesday, after US President Joe Biden’s tour of South Korea and Japan came to an end, the South Korean military said.
South Korea’s Chiefs of Staff said at least three missiles were launched from the Sunan area of North Korea’s capital, Pyongyang, where most of the communist country’s latest weapons tests were conducted.
The military test came shortly after US President Joe Biden’s visit to Japan and South Korea, overshadowed by the Pyongyang regime’s threat of nuclear testing, came to an end.
A spokesperson for US diplomacy condemned the “multiple launches” and urged North Korea to “avoid further provocation and stick to sustained and in-depth dialogue.
The Seoul military said after the new launches, South Korea and the United States fired “surface-to-surface missiles” in response to North Korea’s “alleged ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile) and missile provocations”.
The South Korean government said after the National Security Council meeting that the “successful” launch of the missiles was “an illegal act in direct violation of UN Security Council resolutions”.
South Korea’s new President, Yoon Suk-yeol, said that Pyongyang’s nearly 20 armed attacks since the start of the year were “a serious provocation that threatens peace on the Korean peninsula and the international community.”
The South Korean Chiefs of Staff said in a statement that “around 6:00 am on Tuesday (Tuesday 18:00 GMT), from 06:37 and 06:42, they detected the fire of ballistic missiles in the Sunan region” towards the sea. On the east coast of Japan.
“The first ballistic missile (so-called ICBM) had a range of 360 kilometers and an altitude of 540 kilometers,” the statement said.
In the statement, it was stated that the second projectile “disappeared at an altitude of 20 km” and the third shell traveled 760 km at an altitude of about 60 km.
USA “ready”
The firings are added to a record series of military tests this year, which includes the launch of a full-range intercontinental ballistic missile for the first time since 2017 by Pyongyang.
Yoon, who took over the presidency this month, has advocated toughening Seoul’s policy towards its communist neighbor to the north, after five years of fruitless diplomacy by his predecessor Moon Jae-in.
“It was clear that the tests would be conducted on Biden’s return from his visit to South Korea and Japan,” said Park Won-gon, a professor at Ewha University.
During their stay in Seoul, Biden and Yoon Suk-yeol “agreed to hold talks to expand the scope and scale of joint military exercises and training in the face of the threat posed by North Korea.
“North Korea’s objections to the announcements were expressed in missile launches,” Professor Park said.
Before saying goodbye to Japan on Sunday, where he returned to Washington from the South Korean capital on Tuesday, Biden said the United States was “ready for anything North Korea would do.”
Pyongyang sees joint military exercises in Washington and Seoul as preparations for an invasion.
In recent months, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has called several times to accelerate his program to modernize his military and nuclear-armed arsenal.
Despite the recent strong covid outbreak in the poor and isolated country, new satellite images have shown that North Korea has resumed construction of nuclear reactors.
Both South Korea and the United States recently warned that the communist country, which is subject to international sanctions for its weapons and nuclear program, is preparing a new atomic test.
Ahead of Biden’s visit, South Korea said preparations were complete and Pyongyang was waiting for the right moment to do so.
South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said it was “unfortunate” that Pyongyang was using its resources to develop weapons, not cure the pandemic and improve the lives of the population.
According to North Korean state media, the country has recorded more than three million “fevers” and 68 deaths since the outbreak of the Covid epidemic in late April.
source: Noticias
