Seoul, South Korea — North Korea fired a barrage of suspected ballistic missiles toward its eastern sea on Thursday, according to the South Korean military, days after its attempt to launch a military reconnaissance satellite ended in failure but nevertheless attracted strong condemnation from his rivals.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said they detected the North firing around 10 projectiles that appeared to be short-range ballistic missiles from an area near its capital, Pyongyang. The suspected missiles traveled about 350 kilometers (217 miles) before landing in waters off the North’s east coast. The South Korean military has increased surveillance and vigilance and shares information closely with the United States and Japan.
Japan’s coast guard issued a maritime safety advisory regarding the North Korean launches and urged ships to exercise caution if they find fallen objects. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters that the suspected missiles were believed to have landed in waters outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone and that there were no immediate reports of damage. He said Tokyo “strongly condemns” the launches, which are a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions against the North.
Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have increased in recent months as the pace of North Korea’s weapons tests and South Korea’s combined military exercises with the United States and Japan has intensified in a cycle of retaliation.
Thursday’s launches came after North Korea sent hundreds of balloons carrying trash toward the South since Tuesday evening, in retaliation against South Korean activists passing out anti-North Korean propaganda leaflets to across the border. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un also warned of unspecified “massive actions” against South Korea after staging an air exercise involving 20 fighter jets near the inter-Korean border hours before North Korea is not attempting to launch its second military reconnaissance satellite.
The rocket exploded shortly after liftoff, but Kim urged his military scientists to overcome the failure and continue developing space reconnaissance capabilities, which he described as crucial to monitoring U.S. and South Korean military activities and increasing the threat of its nuclear-capable missiles. . Also Thursday, North Korea hit back at international condemnation of its satellite launch failure, which drew sharp rebukes from the United Nations and other countries because it involves technologies used to develop ballistic missiles with intercontinental range. The North successfully launched its first military spy satellite in November, but Monday’s failure was a possible setback for Kim’s plans to launch three more military spy satellites in 2024. “We will never tolerate any action by hostile forces aimed at violating the inviolable sphere under the exercise of sovereignty nor backing down on access to the spatial reconnaissance capability, which surely should be done, regardless of what others say,” said Deputy Minister North – Korean Foreign Minister Kim Son Gyong in a statement published in state media.
Kim Son Gyong’s statement came in response to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ condemnation of Monday’s launch, which he called a violation of Security Council resolutions barring the North from carrying out any launch involving ballistic missile technology.
Thursday’s launches were the latest in a series of weapons tests by North Korea.
On May 17, South Korea’s military said North Korea had fired short-range ballistic missiles off its east coast. North Korea later said it had tested a tactical ballistic missile with a new autonomous navigation system.
This year, the North tested various cruise missiles and artillery systems and flight tested what it described as an intermediate-range solid-fuel missile with hypersonic nuclear warhead capabilities. Experts say it is designed to hit remote U.S. targets in the Pacific, including the military center of Guam. — AP writer Mari Yamaguchi contributed from Tokyo.
ABC News
