SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — In its second weapons test in three days, North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles toward its eastern waters on Monday, reigniting regional hostilities over U.S.-South Korean military drills. which he sees as an invasion rehearsal.
The firing of the weapons follows threats from North Korea to take an unprecedented strong response to an intercontinental ballistic missile launch on Saturday and drills. A new spree of testing allows North Korea to expand its arsenal amid stalled talks with its rivals and eventually use the increased military capability as leverage to try to extract major concessions from the United States Does
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement that South Korea detected two missile launches from a western coastal city just north of North Korea’s capital, Pyongyang.
It said South Korea has increased its surveillance posture and maintains readiness in close coordination with the United States.
Japan’s Defense Ministry said both missiles landed in the waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan. It said Japan condemned the launch as a threat to the peace and security of Japan and to international society.
The Japanese Defense Ministry said the first missile reached a maximum altitude of 100 kilometers (62 mi) and flew for 400 kilometers (250 mi). It said the second missile reached an altitude of about 50 kilometers (30 mi) and traveled a distance of 350 kilometers (217 mi).
North Korea’s state media said long-range artillery units on its west coast fired two rounds cross-country towards eastern waters on Monday morning, possibly referring to the same activity its neighbors said were missile launches. The official Korean Central News Agency said the North Korean artillery rounds simulated strikes on targets up to 395 kilometers (245 miles) away.
The North said the launch included its new 600-millimetre multiple rocket launcher system that could be equipped with “tactical” nuclear weapons for use on the battlefield. Some experts see the weapon system as a short-range ballistic missile.
In this photo provided by the North Korean government, a ceremony to donate a 600mm super-large multiple launch rocket system is held in a garden at the Workers’ Party of Korea headquarters in Pyongyang, North Korea, December 31, 2022. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)
“The frequency of using the Pacific as our firing range depends on the action character of the US military,” Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, said in a statement carried by state media. “We are well aware of the movement of US military strategic strike means around the Korean Peninsula has been intensifying recently.”
Calling the United States “the worst lunatic”, he threatened to take an unspecified “corresponding response” in response to future moves by the US military.
She may be referring to US flyovers of B-1B long-range supersonic bombers on Sunday for separate training with South Korea and Japan. The B-1B deployment came as North Korea responded to Saturday’s launch of the Hwasong-15 ICBM off its east coast in the country’s first missile test since January 1.
North Korea is highly sensitive to the deployment of B-1B bombers, which can carry heavy payloads of conventional weapons.
North Korea’s state media said on Sunday that the ICBM test was aimed at further enhancing its “deadly” nuclear strike capability and verifying the weapon’s reliability and the combat readiness of the country’s nuclear force. In an earlier statement on Sunday, Kim Yo Jong threatened to take extra-powerful steps over upcoming military drills between the US and South Korea.
Joint fighter jets of Japan and the US will fly over the Sea of Japan on June 7, 2022. Japan’s Defense Ministry announced. (Joint Staff via AP)
North Korea has regularly slammed South Korea-US military drills as a prelude to aggression toward the North, although allies say their drills are defensive in nature. Some observers say that North Korea often uses its rivals’ exercises as an excuse to try and improve its weapons systems.
South Korean and US militaries plan to hold table-top exercises this week to intensify a joint response to a possible use of nuclear weapons by North Korea. The allies are also scheduled to conduct another joint computer simulated exercise and field training in March.
North Korea boasts missiles capable of striking both the US mainland and South Korea with nuclear warheads, but many foreign experts have said North Korea still has some key technologies to master. Such as miniaturizing the warheads that can be mounted on missiles and ensuring that those warheads survive atmospheric re-entry.
In his statement on Monday, Kim Yo Jong reiterated that North Korea has reentry vehicle technology. He also hit back at South Korean experts who questioned whether North Korea’s ICBMs would be functional in real combat conditions.
In this photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un delivers a speech during a ceremony to mark the 69th anniversary of the signing of the armistice that ended the Korean War in July in Pyongyang, North Korea. I ends the fight. 27, 2022. Independent journalists were not allowed to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image has been provided and cannot be independently verified (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)
Kim Yo Jong stressed that the nine-hour launch preparation time following orders from her brother Kim Jong Un included efforts to seal the launch site and evacuate people, and that it did not take longer due to deficiencies in the missile system. Was.
Last year, North Korea set an annual record with more than 70 missile launches. North Korea has said that several of those weapons tests were a warning over previous US-South Korean military exercises. It also passed a law that allows it to preemptively use nuclear weapons in a wide range of scenarios.
Kim Jong Un entered 2023 with calls for an “exponential increase” of the country’s nuclear arsenal, mass production of battlefield tactical nuclear weapons targeting South Korea and development of more advanced ICBMs targeting the US.
