Global Courant
North Korea fires two ballistic missiles into sea off east coast, South Korea’s military says.
North Korea has fired two ballistic missiles into the sea off its east coast, the South Korean military says, hours after a US nuclear-powered submarine arrived at a naval base in South Korea.
In its third round of launches since last week, North Korea fired the missiles sequentially Monday night from about 11:55 pm (14:55 GMT) to midnight (15:00 GMT) from an area near the capital Pyongyang, according to South Korea’s joint chiefs of staff. They didn’t immediately say how far the guns reach.
Japan’s Defense Ministry also reported the launch of what it said could be a ballistic missile by North Korea. Multiple missiles may have been launched, Japanese media reported, citing a Japanese government source.
The missile would have fallen outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone, Japan’s public broadcaster NHK said, citing government officials.
The Japanese Coast Guard urged ships in the affected areas to watch for falling debris.
The launches came hours after the South Korean navy said a nuclear-powered US submarine — the USS Annapolis — had arrived at a port on Jeju Island.
Last week, the USS Kentucky became the first US nuclear-armed submarine to come to South Korea since the 1980s. North Korea responded to its arrival by firing ballistic and cruise missiles last week in apparent demonstrations that it could launch nuclear strikes against South Korea and US naval vessels.
Pyongyang routinely conducts weapons tests, and the incident comes days after leader Kim Jong-un personally oversaw the firing of the country’s newest intercontinental ballistic missile, the solid-fuel Hwasong-18.
Relations between the Koreas are currently at one of their lowest points since the Korean War of 1950-1953, as diplomacy between Pyongyang and Seoul has stalled and Kim has called for more weapons development, including tactical nuclear weapons.
South Korea and the US have taken steps to increase military readiness against North Korea’s weapons program through the deployment of US strategic military assets.
North Korea has reacted angrily, saying such deployment could meet the criteria for using nuclear weapons.
North Korea fired a barrage of cruise missiles into the sea off its west coast over the weekend.
The launches come ahead of North Korea’s celebrations this week marking the 70th anniversary of the end of the Korean War.
A Chinese delegation will travel north in what is the first known visit by a foreign delegation since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the state-run Korean Central News Agency reported.
