14th March, 2023
North Korea on Tuesday fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the sea off its east coast, according to the South Korean military.
This is the latest of several weapons tests as the South and the US conduct their largest joint military drills in years.
The missiles were launched at approximately 7:40 a.m. (2240 GMT on Monday) from South Hwanghae province, near the country’s west coast, and flew approximately 620 kilometres, according to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).
JCS said the South Korean military was on high alert and maintaining a full readiness posture in close coordination with the US, according to the JCS.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida stated that Japan was gathering information on the missile and that no damage had been confirmed within the country.
According to the Japanese chief cabinet secretary, Hirokazu Matsuno, the missiles have not been confirmed to have flown into Japan’s territory or exclusive economic zones.
“We see there is a possibility that North Korea will step up further provocative actions, including missile launches and nuclear tests. We will continue close cooperation with the U.S. and South Korea over North Korea’s military moves, and gather and analyse information with surveillance.”
U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said the latest launches did not pose an immediate threat to U.S. personnel or territory, or to its allies, but said the North’s unlawful weapons programmes had a destabilising effect.
South Korea’s military “strongly condemned” North Korea, calling the repeated missile launches a grave provocation threatening the region’s peace and security, and a U.S. State Department spokesperson criticised the launches as a violation of multiple United Nations Security Council Resolutions.
“The South Korea-U.S. alliance will carry out our exercises and training as planned even if North Korea tries to hamper our Freedom Shield drills with provocations,” a spokesperson for South Korea’s defence ministry told a briefing.
Reuters