North Korea fired several short-range ballistic missiles on Wednesday, South Korea’s military said, the isolated regime’s second missile launch in less than a week as tensions rise on the Korean Peninsula. File Photo by Thomas Maresca/UPI
SEOUL, Sept. 18 (UPI) — North Korea fired several ballistic missiles on Wednesday, South Korea’s military said, the isolated regime’s second launch in less than a week as tensions mount on the Korean Peninsula.
The missiles were fired from an area north of Pyongyang at 6:50 a.m. and traveled roughly 250 miles to the northeast, Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a text message to reporters.
The South Korean military is analyzing the launch and closely sharing information with the United States and Japan, the message said.
“Our military will maintain the ability and posture to overwhelmingly respond to any provocation while keeping a close eye on North Korea’s various activities under the firm South Korea-U.S. joint defense posture,” the JCS added.
The United States and Japan also announced that they had detected the launch.
Tokyo’s Defense Ministry said that the missiles appeared to splash down in the sea off the east coast of North Korea and did not reach Japan’s exclusive economic zone.
“North Korea’s series of actions, including its repeated launches of ballistic missiles, threaten the peace and security of Japan, the region and the international community,” the ministry said in a statement.
Hawaii-based U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said it is consulting with regional allies after the launch.
“The United States condemns these actions and calls on the DPRK to refrain from further unlawful and destabilizing acts,” the command said in a statement. “While we have assessed that this event does not pose an immediate threat to U.S. personnel, or territory, or to our allies, we continue to monitor the situation.”
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is the official name of North Korea.
The launch comes less than a week after the North fired a salvo of short-range missiles, which Pyongyang later said was the test of a new 600mm multiple rocket launcher.
The United States and South Korea refer to the 600mm rocket system as the KN-25 and characterize it as a short-range ballistic missile. North Korea has claimed since October 2022 that the weapon can be fitted with a tactical nuclear warhead.
Tensions are climbing on the Korean Peninsula as the North continues to unveil military hardware and test new weapons, some of which could be intended for shipment to Russia.
Pyongyang and Moscow have strengthened their relationship in the wake of the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine, with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin signing a mutual defense treaty in June. A recent South Korean intelligence report said the North has sent 13,000 shipping containers suspected of carrying arms to Russia since mid-2022.
North Korea’s top diplomat is on a visit to Russia this week, while Russian Security Council head Sergei Shoigu recently met with Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang.
North Korea is also stirring up fresh concerns about its nuclear weapons program, with Kim publicly visiting a uranium enrichment facility last week and calling for an “exponential” boost of the regime’s nuclear arsenal.