Seoul announced on Wednesday that it and Washington launched a barrage of missiles into the sea in response to North Korea’s launch of a ballistic missile over Japan.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Wednesday that South Korean and US forces had conducted their own missile exercises.
A statement said that each side fired a pair of US-made Atakams short-range ballistic missiles.
The South Korean military confirmed, separately, that the South Korean “Hyunmu-2” missile fell shortly after launch and crashed, but caused no casualties, according to Reuters.
Earlier on Tuesday, North Korea launched a medium-range ballistic missile to a farther distance than ever before, as it flew over Japan, in the first case in 5 years.
The Japanese broadcaster said that the ballistic missile launched by North Korea flew over Japanese territory, explaining that it flew over the main island of Hokkaido in the far north of Japan and the northeastern prefecture of Aomori, where the government called on its citizens to stay inside the buildings and the need to find shelter.
The last time a North Korean missile flew over Japan was in 2017.
In Washington, US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said in an interview with CNN that these exercises are aimed at “making sure that our military capabilities are ready to respond to northern provocations if necessary.”
He added, “It shouldn’t go that far. We made it clear to Kim Jong Un that we are ready to sit at the negotiating table without preconditions. We want to see the Korean Peninsula free of nuclear weapons.”
Kirby lamented that the North Korean leader “has not shown an inclination to move in that direction – and quite frankly he is moving in the opposite direction by continuing to conduct these missile tests which are in violation of UN Security Council resolutions.”
International condemnation of Pyongyang’s experiments
Meanwhile, Pyongyang’s longest-range missile test to date was met with international condemnation.
- US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida condemned North Korea’s test “in the strongest terms”, and the European Union described it as a “reckless and deliberately provocative act”.
- South Korean President Yun Seok-yul condemned North Korea’s launch of an intermediate-range ballistic missile Tuesday, vowing a “firm response” to the “provocation”.
- United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres decried the launch and said it violated Security Council resolutions.
- The United States asked the United Nations Security Council to hold a meeting on North Korea on Wednesday, but diplomats said China and Russia opposed a public debate on the issue in the 15-member council.
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