North Korea launched eight ballistic missiles from various locations on Sunday, a day after Seoul and Washington completed their first joint exercise with a US aircraft carrier in more than four years, the South Korean military said.
Pyongyang has upgraded its weapons program despite facing tough economic sanctions, and officials and analysts have warned that the North Korean regime is preparing a new nuclear test.
“Our military has detected eight short-range ballistic missiles fired from North Korea,” the South Korean Chiefs of Staff said.
Launches took place over 30 minutes from various locations, including Sunan in the capital Pyongyang, Tongchang-ri in Pyongan Province (north), and Hamhung in Hamgyong Province (south).
They covered different distances from 110 to 670 kilometers and flew at different altitudes, up to 90 kilometers high.
Two missiles were launched from each location, possibly from carrier launchers (TELs), according to two local reports.
This is the highest number of ballistic missiles North Korea has launched at the same time on the same day.
military exercises
Japan said the launches occurred at multiple locations and that Pyongyang has been testing the missiles at an “unprecedented frequency” this year.
Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi confirmed that North Korea had fired at least six missiles, saying, “We can say that it is unusual to launch a large number of launches from at least three places in such a short time.”
“This is absolutely unacceptable,” he said.
The launch comes a day after South Korea and the United States completed three days of large-scale exercises involving the USS Ronald Reagan, a 100,000-ton nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.
It was the first joint military exercise between the two allied countries since South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol took office last month, and the first with an aircraft carrier since November 2017.
Pyongyang has long protested the joint military exercises Seoul and Washington, calling them cases of occupation.
“The exercise reaffirmed both countries’ determination to respond sharply to any North Korean provocation, while also demonstrating the United States’ determination to provide expanded deterrence,” the South Korean Chiefs of Staff said in a statement. Said.
During a summit with Yoon last month, US President Joe Biden said Washington would use “strategic assets” if necessary to deter North Korea as part of efforts to strengthen deterrence.
Go Myong-hyun, a researcher at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies, said Sunday’s launch was likely a response to maneuvers by the United States and South Korea.
“It looks like they launched eight missiles because, in their view, the scale of joint exercises has been expanded,” he told AFP.
nuclear test
US and South Korean officials have been warning for weeks that Pyongyang could conduct its seventh nuclear test.
Last month, the communist country tested three missiles, including the Hwasong-17, possibly its largest intercontinental ballistic missile.
This release came just days after Joe Biden left South Korea.
Despite recently facing a Covid-19 outbreak, North Korea has resumed construction of a long-dormant nuclear reactor, according to new satellite images.
The South Korean presidential office said last month that it was testing a nuclear blast device in preparation for Pyongyang’s first nuclear test since 2017.
Nuclear and long-range tests have been paused since North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met with US President Donald Trump in 2019 in a failed attempt at diplomatic rapprochement.
But Pyongyang has abandoned its own moratorium on nuclear and long-range testing and has conducted a series of weapons tests this year, including firing an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
Analysts warn that Kim may step up plans for nuclear testing to distract the North Koreans from the dreaded coronavirus outbreak.
source: Noticias
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