SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles into its eastern waters Monday, continuing its weapons displays as the United States moved an aircraft carrier strike group to neighboring waters for military exercises to South.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the two missiles were fired from a western inland area south of the North Korean capital Pyongyang between 7:47 a.m. and 8 a.m. and traveled about 229 miles before landing. land in the sea Japan’s military said the missiles flew in an «irregular» trajectory and reached a maximum altitude of 31 miles before landing outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone.
Japan has previously used the term to describe a North Korean solid-fuel missile apparently modeled after Russia’s Iskander mobile ballistic system, which is designed to be maneuverable in low-altitude flights to better evade South Korea’s anti-missile defenses.
The launches came a day before the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier and its strike group are due to arrive at the South Korean port of Busan. The South Korean Defense Ministry said the Nimitz and its strike group will participate in exercises with South Korean warships on April 3 in international waters near the South Korean resort island of Jeju.
The launches were North Korea’s seventh missile event this month and underscore rising tensions in the region as the pace of North Korean weapons tests and joint US-South Korean military exercises they have accelerated in recent months in a cycle of tit-for-tat responses. .
The South Korean and Japanese militaries denounced the North’s latest launches as serious provocations that threaten regional peace and violate UN Security Council resolutions and said they were working with the United States to further analyze the missiles.
The United States and South Korea last week completed their biggest spring exercises in years, which included computer simulations and live-fire field exercises. But the allies have continued their field training in a show of force against North Korea’s expanding nuclear arsenal and belligerent threats of nuclear conflict.
North Korea has fired more than 20 ballistic and cruise missiles in 11 launch events this year as it tries to force the United States to accept its nuclear status and negotiate the removal of sanctions from a position of strength.
North Korean launches this month included a flight test of an intercontinental ballistic missile and a series of short-range weapons aimed at overwhelming South Korea’s anti-missile defenses as it tries to demonstrate its ability to conduct nuclear strikes in both South Korea and South Korea. as in the continental United States.
North Korea last week carried out what it described as a three-day exercise that simulated nuclear strikes against South Korean targets, while leader Kim Jong Un condemned the joint US-South Korean military drills as nuclear weapons tests. invasion. Allies say the exercises are defensive in nature.
The North’s tests also included an alleged nuclear-capable underwater drone that the North says is capable of unleashing a huge «radioactive tsunami» that would destroy ships and naval ports. Analysts were skeptical about North Korea’s claims about the drone or whether the device poses a major new threat, but the tests underscored the North’s commitment to expanding its nuclear threats.
Following North Korea’s announcement of the drone test on Friday, the South Korean air force released details of a five-day joint air drill with the United States last week that included live-fire demonstrations of air-to-air weapons. air and air-ground. . The air force said the exercise was aimed at verifying precision strike capabilities and bolstering the credibility of Seoul’s «three-pronged» strategy against North Korea’s nuclear threats: preemptively attack sources of attack, intercept incoming missiles and neutralize the Northern leadership and key military installations.
North Korea is already coming off a record year for weapons tests, launching more than 70 missiles in 2022, when it also enacted a phased nuclear doctrine law that authorizes preemptive nuclear strikes in a wide range of scenarios in which it can perceive its leadership. . as under threat.