South Korea announced that North Korea had test-fired two ballistic missiles in a northeasterly direction.
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea tested two ballistic missiles on Monday, South Korea’s military said, a day after Pyongyang vowed an “aggressive and overwhelming” response to new U.S. military drills with South Korea and Japan.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missiles were fired 10 minutes apart in a northeasterly direction from the town of Changyong in southeastern North Korea.
North Korea said the first missile flew 600 kilometers (370 miles) and the second 120 kilometers (75 miles), but did not say where they landed. North Korea typically tests missiles into the eastern seaboard, but the second missile’s flight was too short to reach that area.
South Korean media quoted an unidentified South Korean military source as saying the second missile likely crashed inland into North Korea. There were no immediate reports of possible damage on the ground in North Korea.
The first missile reportedly landed in waters off the coast of the eastern North Korean city of Chongjin.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff did not comment on the media reports but said South Korea maintained a firm readiness to repel any provocations by North Korea in coordination with its military alliance with the United States.
The launch came two days after South Korea, the United States and Japan concluded a new multi-domain trilateral exercise in the region. In recent years, the three countries have expanded their security partnership to better counter the growing nuclear threat from North Korea and an increasingly assertive Chinese stance in the region.
“Freedom Edge” was a simultaneous air force and naval exercise aimed at improving joint ballistic missile defense, anti-submarine warfare, surveillance and other techniques and capabilities, and was intended to build on previous exercises with increased sophistication. The three-day exercise involved a U.S. aircraft carrier as well as destroyers, fighter jets and helicopters from the three countries.
North Korea’s Foreign Ministry issued a lengthy statement on Sunday strongly condemning the “Freedom Edge” exercise, calling the US-South Korea-Japan alliance an Asian version of NATO. It said the exercise blatantly undermines the security environment on the Korean peninsula and reflects US intentions to encircle China and pressure Russia.
The statement said North Korea would “resolutely safeguard its national sovereignty, security and interests, as well as regional peace, through aggressive and overwhelming countermeasures.”
Monday’s launch was North Korea’s first weapons test in five days. On Wednesday, North Korea fired what it described as a multiple warhead missile, the first test of an advanced weapon it is developing aimed at defeating U.S. and South Korean missile defenses. North Korea said the launch was successful, but South Korea dismissed the North’s claim as a subterfuge to cover up a failed launch.
North Korea has sent numerous garbage-filled balloons toward South Korea in recent weeks in what it says is retaliation for South Korean activists using North Korean balloons to send political leaflets. Last month, North Korea and Russia also signed a pact pledging to provide mutual defense assistance if either side was attacked, a major defense pact that has raised concerns Kim Jong Un could launch further provocations against South Korea.
Meanwhile, North Korea held a key ruling party meeting on Friday to decide on “important and pressing issues” related to efforts to further strengthen Korean-style socialism.
