North Korea launched several short-range ballistic missiles Tuesday, Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said, just hours before polls opened on Election Day in the United States. Photo by Thomas Maresca/UPI
SEOUL, Nov. 5 (UPI) — North Korea fired a salvo of short-range missiles into the East Sea on Tuesday, South Korea’s military said, just hours before Americans were set to head to the polls for the U.S. presidential election.
South Korea’s military detected several short-range ballistic missiles launched from the area of Sariwon, a city south of Pyongyang, at around 7:30 a.m., the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a text message to reporters. The missiles traveled roughly 250 miles before splashing down in the sea between Korea and Japan.
“Our military has strengthened surveillance and vigilance in preparation for additional launches, and is maintaining a full readiness posture while closely sharing information related to North Korean ballistic missiles with the U.S. and Japanese authorities,” the JCS said.
The launch comes five days after Pyongyang fired its new Hwasong-19 intercontinental ballistic missile, a nuclear-capable weapon believed to have the range to reach the entire continental United States.
The solid-fuel ICBM flew for 86 minutes and reached an altitude of more than 4,500 miles — both records for a North Korean missile. It remains to be seen whether Pyongyang has the atmospheric re-entry vehicle technology to successfully deliver a nuclear payload, however.
South Korean officials have said in recent weeks that the North may be looking to send a signal to the United States during election season, perhaps hoping to demonstrate its weapons technology as leverage in any future negotiations with Washington. Seoul’s Defense Intelligence Agency told lawmakers last week that North has also completed internal preparations for a nuclear test at its Punggye-ri site.
Concerns also continue to mount over North Korea’s growing military cooperation with Russia, including the reported dispatch of troops to aid in Moscow’s war against Ukraine.
U.S. State Department Matthew Miller said Monday that as many as 10,000 North Korean troops had made their way to the frontline area of Kursk — an increase from the 8,000 troops estimated by Washington on Thursday.
At a meeting in Seoul on Monday, South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell expressed alarm over the possibility of Russia sharing missile and nuclear technology with North Korea.
“We are closely monitoring what Russia provides to the DPRK in return for its provision of arms and military personnel,” they said in a joint statement, using the official acronym for North Korea. “We are … deeply concerned about the possibility for any transfer of nuclear- or ballistic missile-related technology to the DPRK.”
On Sunday, the United States, South Korea and Japan staged a combined air drill in response to the North’s ICBM launch. The trilateral exercise mobilized a U.S. B-1B bomber and fighter jets from the allies over waters east of South Korea’s Jeju Island.
Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, condemned the drill in state-run media on Monday, calling it “absolute proof of the validity and urgency of the line of building up the nuclear forces.”
