North Korea fires two missiles after South Korea-US drills
Launches carried out after Pyongyang warns of ‘inevitable’ reaction to rival military exercises.
North Korea has fired two short-range missiles off its east coast, the South Korean military says. The launches came less than an hour after Pyongyang warned of an “inevitable” response to military exercises by South Korean and US troops.
South Korea’s joint chiefs of staff said they detected the launches from North Korea’s capital on Thursday.
Japan’s defense ministry said the two ballistic missiles landed in the country’s exclusive economic zone, possibly in an irregular trajectory. One landed in the Sea of Japan, also known as the Baltic Sea, about 110 km northwest of Hegura Island, part of Ishikawa Prefecture, and the other about 250 km away, Japanese authorities said.
[Emergency alert]
North Korea has launched a suspected ballistic missile. More updates to follow.– PM’s office of Japan (@JPN_PMO) June 15, 2023
US President Joe Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan was in Tokyo for meetings with his Japanese and South Korean counterparts, Cho Tae-yong and Takeo Akiba, when the launch took place.
The three discussed North Korea’s missile program and confirmed they would work closely together to get Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons, according to a readout of the meeting released by Japan.
Joint military exercises between the US and South Korea
Earlier on Thursday, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol witnessed several thousand South Korean and US troops taking part in live fire exercises in the latest show of force the allies say is needed to deter North Korea.
A spokesman for the North Korean Ministry of National Defense said the exercises are raising military tensions in the region and that the armed forces will respond sternly to “any form of protest or provocation by enemies”.
Pyongyang unsuccessfully attempted to launch a spy satellite late last month in its first satellite launch attempt since 2016. The rocket booster and payload crashed into the sea.
North Korea’s ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programs have been banned by United Nations Security Council resolutions that have sanctioned the country.
Diplomatic efforts to defuse tensions or convince Pyongyang to give up its nuclear arsenal have stalled.
South Korea on Wednesday sued North Korea for $35 million in compensation for a liaison office that North Korea blew up in 2020 in a case that highlighted broken ties between neighbors.