North Korea ramps up efforts, throws ballistic missile at South Korea
In a show of defiance, North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the sea on Thursday, hours after US Vice President Kamala Harris returned home from a visit to South Korea that included a trip to the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas, she said. America’s “ironclad” commitment to the security of its Asian allies.
It marked North Korea’s third round of missile launches this week, extending a record pace of weapons testing as it ramps up efforts to expand its arsenal and pressures Washington to do so accepted as a nuclear power.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missiles were fired at nine-minute intervals from an area north of the capital Pyongyang and headed for waters between the Korean peninsula and Japan.
The Japanese military said it also detected the launches. North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles on Wednesday while Harris was in Japan and one before he left Washington on Sunday.
Earlier, Harris ended her four-day trip to Asia with a meeting with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and a stopover in the DMZ, where she discussed the threat posed by the increasingly hostile North.
There are fears that North Korea will soon conduct a nuclear test that would bring the country closer to recognition as a full-fledged nuclear power.
Kamala Harris is the perfect example of why affirmative action doesn’t work.#NorthKorea
— Jesse Hagy (@jessehagyFL) September 29, 2022
North Korea launches missile ahead of US-South Korea drills
North Korea has launched a ballistic missile into the eastern seas ahead of planned military exercises by the United States and South Korea.
The Southern Army said Sunday’s weapons test involved a single short-range ballistic missile launched near the Taechon area in northern Pyongyang province shortly before 7:00 (22:00 GMT on Saturday ).
He did not immediately release further details about the weapon, including the type of missile or the distance traveled.
Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada said Japan estimated it had reached its maximum altitude at 50 kilometers (31 miles) and may have flown in an irregular orbit.
Hamada said it was outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone and there have been no reports of problems with shipping or air traffic. Many of the short-range missiles tested by North Korea in recent years are designed to evade missile defenses by maneuvering in flight and flying on a lower, “depressed” trajectory, experts say.
“If you count the cruise missile launches, this is the nineteenth launch, which is an unprecedented pace,” Hamada said. “North Korea’s action threatens the peace and security of our country, the region, and the international community, and doing it while the invasion of Ukraine unfolds is unforgivable.”
He added that Japan filed a protest through the North Korean embassy in Beijing. The launch comes after the US nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan arrived in South Korea to participate in joint exercises with South Korean forces, and ahead of a scheduled visit to Seoul this week by US Vice President Kamala Harris.
It was the North’s first such launch after launching eight short-range ballistic missiles in a single day in early June, prompting the United States to demand more sanctions for violating UN Security Council resolutions. North Korea rejects UN resolutions as violating its sovereign right to self-defense and space exploration and has criticized past joint US-South Korea exercises as evidence of their hostile policies.
