North Korea overnight Monday launched two ballistic missiles into the East Sea. File Photo by Thomas Maresca/UPI
July 25 (UPI) — North Korea launched two ballistic missiles into the East Sea late Monday, after a U.S. nuclear-powered submarine took harbor in a South Korean naval base amid growing tensions on the peninsula.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff confirmed the launches in a text message to reporters, stating the first launch of a short-range ballistic missile was detected at 11:55 p.m. Monday followed by a second launch at 12 a.m. Tuesday.
Both missiles landed in the East Seat after each flew about 250 miles, it said.
Japan’s ministry of defense also confirmed the launches in a statement that said both missiles reached a maximum altitude of about 60 miles before splashing down into the ocean outside of Tokyo’s exclusive economic zone.
“We strongly condemn North Korea’s series of missile launches as a serious provocation that undermines peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula as well as the international community,” South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said.
North Korea launched the missiles less than a day after the USS Annapolis, a Los Angeles-class nuclear-powered submarine, docked at a naval base on Jeju Island, South Korea’s southern most province, for what Navy officials told reporters was to replenish supplies.
“On the occasion of the USS Annapolis’ visit, the natives of South Korea and the United States plan to strengthen a combined defense posture and conduct exchange activities in commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the South Korea-U.S. alliance,” the armed services said, according to Yonhap news agency.
The submarine also docked on South Korea’s resort island of Jeju less than a week after the USS Kentucky, an Ohio-class nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine, arrived in South Korea’s Busan city.
It was the first time a U.S. nuclear-capable ballistic missile submarine had docked in South Korea in some 40 years.
The visit by the USS Kentucky was announced in April as part of the Washington Declaration signed by U.S. President Joe Biden and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol during a visit to the White House.
The declaration is seen as a reaffirmation of joint values and a recommitment by the United States to protect South Korea from a Pyongyang nuclear attack, but also is a deepening of military ties between the two allies that gives Seoul a greater say in the potential use of the U.S. nuclear arsenal.
The document was penned as North Korea has continued with its record-setting number of launches that began in early 2022.
Over the weekend, North Korea launched several cruise missiles into the East Sea after firing a new Hwasong-18 intercontinental ballistic missile earlier this month.