North Korea fires Ballistic Missiles: South Korea’s military has said that North Korea fired two ballistic missiles eastwards on Monday. It has been said that this action has been taken in response to the joint military exercises of South Korea, America and Japan.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said a ballistic missile was fired from the Jungyeon area of South Hwanghae Province at around 5:05 am on Monday in a northeastern direction. Soon after, another ballistic missile was fired at around 5:15 am. The first missile was short-range.
Yonhap news agency did not give further details about how far the missiles flew. The JCS told the media: “Our military will share North Korean ballistic missile data with US and Japanese authorities, we are monitoring the situation.”
Earlier on Sunday, North Korea’s Foreign Ministry condemned the military exercises of South Korea, the US and Japan and said that the country would take “aggressive and massive” retaliatory action against it.
A joint exercise by South Korea, the US and Japan ended on Saturday, involving fighter jets and warships and a US aircraft carrier.
Earlier on Wednesday, North Korea fired ballistic missiles towards the East Sea. North Korea has claimed that it has successfully tested several missiles, but South Korea has rejected this claim as a “hoax” and said that the launch failed because the missile exploded in the air.
The latest launch comes amid concerns about growing military cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a “comprehensive strategic partnership” treaty during a summit in Pyongyang last month. The agreement includes a promise to help each other if attacked.