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North Korea launched two short-range ballistic missiles into the East Sea on Thursday, according to Seoul’s military, in apparent protest of a recent round of large South Korea-US live-fire drills that concluded this week.
Shortly before the launch, a spokesperson for the North’s defense ministry issued a statement condemning the “provocative and irresponsible” drills, according to Yonhap news agency.
The launches were detected by Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) between 7:25 p.m. and 7:37 p.m., and the missiles flew approximately 780 kilometers before plunging into the water.
“The intelligence authorities of South Korea and the United States are conducting a comprehensive assessment regarding (the missiles’) specifics and the possibility of additional provocations,” the JCS said in a text message to reporters.
The JCS urged the North to halt such missile launches immediately, calling them “significant provocations” that jeopardize peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula as well as in the worldwide community.
“In close coordination with the US, our military will maintain a firm readiness posture based on its capabilities to respond overwhelmingly to any provocations,” the statement stated.
On Thursday, the allies concluded the fifth and final round of the Combined Joint Live-Fire Exercise, the first of its kind in six years, at the Seungjin Fire Training Field in Pocheon, just 25 kilometers south of the inter-Korean border, to commemorate the bilateral alliance’s 70th anniversary.
For the drills, more than 610 military assets were mobilized, including F-35A warplanes and K9 self-propelled howitzers from the South Korean side, and F-16 fighter jets and Gray Eagle drones from the US side.
The North’s defence ministry accused the allies of escalating tensions, saying the drills warrant its “inevitable” response.
“Our army strongly denounces the provocative and irresponsible moves of the puppet military authorities escalating the military tension in the region despite its repeated warnings and warns them solemnly,” the spokesperson said in the statement carried by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency.
“Our armed forces will fully counter any form of demonstrative moves and provocation of the enemies,” the official added.
The latest launch also coincided with the South Korean military’s mission to recover the remains of a doomed North Korean space rocket in the Yellow Sea.
According to the North’s state media, on May 31, the North launched what it claimed was a satellite-carrying rocket, but it crashed into the sea due to an anomalous start of the second-stage engine.
The North last launched a missile on April 13. It claimed to have launched a new solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile, the Hwasong-18.
Meanwhile, top nuclear envoys from South Korea, the United States, and Japan spoke by phone about how to respond to the North’s provocation, according to Seoul’s foreign ministry.
Seoul’s main nuclear negotiator, Kim Gunn, and his US and Japanese counterparts, Sung Kim and Takehiro Funakoshi, respectively, blasted Pyongyang’s missile launch as a breach of UN Security Council resolutions and a threat to global peace and security during the discussions.
They also decided to respond forcefully to North Korea’s provocations in light of their strong security relationship.
Source:IANS
