NNorth Korea has fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the open sea, according to the South Korean military. The two rockets were launched early Monday morning (local time) from the western region of South Pyongan, the general staff said in the capital Seoul. They were flying towards the Sea of Japan (Korean: East Sea). How far they flew was initially unclear.
North Korean leader’s sister Kim Yo Jong warned of an increased US presence on the Korean Peninsula after the United States held bilateral air exercises with South Korea and Japan on Sunday in response to the ICBM launch. “We are carefully evaluating the impact this would have on the security of our state,” Kim Yo Jong said in an official statement. “The frequency of using the Pacific as a firing range depends on the behavior of US forces.” North Korea has “satisfactory” missile technology and capability and will “now concentrate on increasing the quantity of its armed forces”.
It was only on Saturday that the largely isolated country fired a long-range missile that could theoretically reach US territory. The Hwasongpho-15 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) reached its target area in the Sea of Japan after a flight of almost 990 kilometers, state media reported. Such missiles are considered the most important carriers for nuclear weapons.
Tensions on the peninsula increase
Tests with ICBMs and other ballistic missiles are banned from North Korea by United Nations decisions. North Korea’s development of ICBMs is primarily aimed at the United States, which Pyongyang accuses of hostile policies.
Tensions on the Korean peninsula had escalated significantly again in the past year. Communist-ruled North Korea, subject to international sanctions over its nuclear weapons program, increased the scope and pace of its missile tests. South Korea and the USA resumed their maneuvers in full.
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