North Korea on Thursday morning fired multiple short-range missiles into the Sea of Japan, known in Korea as the East Sea.
The South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff reported that the rockets were fired from around Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, and flew approximately 360 kilometers (217 miles). However, no details were provided regarding the exact number of projectiles.
Seoul condemned the launch as a “provocative act” and said that it threatened peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula, local media reported.
Japan’s defense ministry said the launches occurred between 7:10 and 7:14 a.m., with at least two missiles reaching an altitude of 100 kilometers (62 miles) and flying in a northeasterly direction.
A man watches a news broadcast with file footage of a North Korean missile test, at a train station in Seoul on September 12. North Korea fired multiple short-range ballistic missiles into waters east of the Korean peninsula that morning, Seoul’s military reported.
Jung Yeon-je/AFP via Getty Images
The United States Indo-Pacific Command issued a statement acknowledging the launches and reaffirming its commitment to consult closely with South Korea, Japan, and other regional partners. “The United States condemns these actions and calls on the DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) to refrain from further unlawful and destabilizing acts,” the statement said, using North Korea’s official name.
“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 statement added. Washington reiterated that its commitments to Tokyo and Seoul remain “ironclad.”
Newsweek reached out to the North Korean embassy in Beijing, China, with a written request for comment.
Despite the United Nations Security Council’s sanctions aimed at curbing progress on North Korea’s ballistic missile program, the Kim Jong Un regime has already launched more than 30 missiles and a single space rocket this year. These have included short- and intermediate-range missiles, as well as one that Pyongyang said was mounted with a hypersonic maneuverable warhead.
The latest launch came just three days after North Korea marked its National Day, the 76th anniversary of its founding.
North Korea’s Defense Ministry last week warned that the U.S. and South Korea would “pay a dear price” for conducting joint military exercises in August.
In addition, late last month, North Korea held a handover ceremony for 250 truck-mounted missile launchers, which it said would be deployed near the heavily militarized border with South Korea.
Relations between the two Koreas are at their lowest point in decades due to the nuclear-armed North’s spate of missile tests and the suspension of a 2018 inter-Korean military pact intended to reduce tensions.
The situation has been further strained by tit-for-tat balloon exchanges and South Korea’s decision to redeploy Cold War-era loudspeakers along the border to broadcast anti-Kim propaganda.
