One of Seoul’s shells missed and crashed causing a fire at a military base
South Korea and the United States fired four missiles early Wednesday in response to the launch of a North Korean projectile that flew over Japanese territory the day before.
Although at first the armies of Seoul and Washington claimed that their short-range missiles “precisely hit a virtual target” in the Sea of Japan, also known as the East Sea; It was later learned that a projectile had failed and crashed at the military base in the city of Gangneung, 150 kilometers east of the South Korean capital.
The Hyunmoo-2 missile launched by South Korean troops would have undertaken an “abnormal” flight, finally causing an accident that has been felt by the residents of Gangneung, who have been surprised by a sudden fire at the military base, as reported by the Yonhap agency. .
Either way, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the maneuvers “demonstrated the skill and readiness to neutralize the source of the provocation while maintaining a constant monitoring position,” it noted in the statement.
Already on Tuesday, US and South Korean fighter planes had launched a bombing exercise in the Yellow Sea. He wanted to “ensure that we have the military capabilities ready to respond to provocations from the North if it comes to this situation,” US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told CNN. “We shouldn’t get to that. We have made it clear to Kim Jong-un that we are willing to sit down without preconditions. We want to see the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula,” he added.
Resolution violations
“It has shown no predisposition to move in that direction and, quite frankly, it is moving in the opposite direction by continuing to conduct missile tests, which are violations of UN Security Council resolutions,” he continued.
Pyongyang’s latest test joins a record series of weapons tests by the isolated communist regime, which recently revised its laws to declare its status as a nuclear power “irreversible.”
US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida condemned “in the strongest terms” the latest shot. South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol called it a “provocation” and called for a “firm response.”
The last time Pyongyang fired a missile over Japan was in 2017, amid a period of high tension between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and then-US President Donald Trump.
With its firing on Tuesday, North Korea has launched five missiles in the last ten days. This flurry of tests coincides with the intensification of military cooperation between Seoul, Tokyo and Washington in the area, which will stage their first trilateral submarine maneuvers in five years on Friday.
#South #Korea #respond #North #Korean #missile #ballistic #projectiles