Biden condemns North Korea’s ballistic missile launch

President Joe Biden condemned North Korea and reaffirmed the US’s “castle commitment” to defend Japan in a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Tuesday after Pyongyang fired a ballistic missile over Japan for the first time in five years.

Earlier, the White House called the move “dangerous and reckless” as Japanese residents were forced to hide in their homes.

“This action is destabilizing and shows the DPRK’s blatant disregard for United Nations Security Council resolutions and international security standards,” National Security Council spokesman Adrienne Watson said in a statement Monday night.

North Korea test-fired a ballistic missile that flew over Japan’s Tohoku region and flew 1,800 miles into the Pacific Ocean before crashing

President Joe Biden (left) called Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida (right) on Tuesday after North Korea’s missile test

A missile that analysts say could be the North Korean Hwasong-12. North Korea fired a medium-range ballistic missile over Japan for the first time in five years on Tuesday

Both Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan have been in touch with their Japanese and South Korean counterparts in the wake of the test – the fifth in 10 days.

The last time North Korea flew a missile over Japan was on September 15, 2017, in the early months of the Trump administration when Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un were still exchanging insults — and nine months before their death. first personal meeting.

Overall, Trump met Kim three times during his four years in office, but the US was never able to reach a denuclearization deal.

North Korea has ramped up missile launches under President Joe Biden.

South Korea said the intermediate-range ballistic missile that flew over Japan on Tuesday flew some 2,800 miles, potentially setting a new record for North Korean tests.

“We’re still analyzing it so we can better understand what capabilities they put in the air yesterday,” John Kirby, the White House national security spokesman, told the Fox News Channel Tuesday morning.

Usually, North Korea places the missiles to prevent them from flying over neighboring countries.

On Tuesday, the five million residents of Hokkaido, Japan’s second largest island, were warned to take shelter.

The warnings lasted for 20 minutes – then the rocket crashed into the Pacific Ocean.

Since then, the US and Japan and the US and South Korea have held military exercises.

Fighter planes from the US and Japan conducted exercises over the Sea of ​​Japan, the US military said.

American and South Korean warplanes carried out bombing raids.

With the participation of four F-15Ks from the South Korean Air Force and four F-16 fighters from the United States Air Force, South Korea’s F-15K fired two JDAM (Joint Direct Attack Munition) bombs at a virtual target on the Jikdo shooting range to the west. Sea,” the Seoul Joint Chiefs of Staff said, referring to the Yellow Sea.

The exercises were designed to demonstrate the “capabilities of the Allies to launch a precision strike at the origin of provocations,” it added.

Vice President Kamala Harris recently returned from the region and the recent wave of missile tests is believed to be a response.

The US has long warned that a North Korean nuclear test could be next.

The last time the North Koreans tested a nuclear weapon was also in September 2017.