North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles (SRBMs) on Monday, the National Defense General Headquarters in Seoul said, 48 hours before the US and South Korea held joint air exercises.
The same information was provided by the Japanese Ministry of Defense, recreating the information about three launches previously released by the Japanese Coast Guard.
“The launch of two short-range ballistic missiles was detected (…) from 07:00 to 07:11 (local time; from 00:00 to 00:11 Greek time),” the South Korean General Staff said in a statement.
The two missiles reached a maximum altitude of 100 and 50 km and covered a distance of 350-400 km before falling outside Japan’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), according to the Japanese Ministry of Defense.
No damage to aircraft or ships was reported. The Japanese Defense Ministry, however, stressed that the recent repeated ballistic missile launches “threaten the peace and security of Japan, the region and the international community,” adding that Tokyo “strongly protests” and “condemns” these actions.
The tests of the new weapon took place as North Korean leader’s sister Kim Jong Un, Kim Jo Jong, has warned US troops to stop high schools near her country because otherwise the Pacific Ocean will turn into a “shooting ground”.
Kim Jo Yeon, who is said to have a lot of influence, added that “our will to make the tension maniacs pay the price for their actions has not changed.”
The new tests came two days after Pyongyang’s test of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), which Pyongyang called a surprise exercise.
Request for a Security Council
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Monday that the Japanese government would request an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council after more missile launches by North Korea.
Tensions on the Korean peninsula remain at an extremely high level amid repeated North Korean weapons testing and the expected activation of joint US and South Korean military high schools.
Seoul and Washington have also been warning since last year that Pyongyang is preparing to launch new nuclear weapons tests.
Source: RES-IPE
Source: Kathimerini
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