north korea Officials said they fired what appeared to be the fourth ballistic missile in a week into the sea off the east coast of the Korean peninsula on Sunday. Korea and Japan Said.
Officials from Japan’s Ministry of Defense and Coast Guard said: North Korean projectile He was fired in the morning, but no details were shared.
South Korea said North Korea had launched a ballistic missile toward eastern waters, according to Yonhap news agency.
According to Japan’s Ministry of Defense, the missile flew at an altitude of 50 kilometers (31 miles) and covered a range of 800 kilometers (497 miles) before landing in the sea. This was further confirmed by South Korea, who said the projectile flew 800km before hitting its target.
Japan’s defense ministry said it “strongly protests” the North Korean missile launch through its Beijing embassy.
South Korea called Sunday’s ballistic missile test a “clear violation of UN Security Council resolutions”, citing UN policy banning North Korea’s nuclear tests.
The Kim Jong-un regime has already launched three ballistic missiles this week, one intercontinental and two short-range, two of them Thursday, hours before the South Korean president heads to Tokyo for a summit. was fired at
This is North Korea’s third test-fire of weapons after the United States and South Korea deployed joint forces on the Korean peninsula and began joint military exercises last week.
The South Korean and American armed forces are conducting an 11-day joint military exercise dubbed “Freedom Shield 23” in response to the increasing likelihood of North Korea’s nuclear test expected this year.
North Korea calls military exercises a disaster to practice launching an invasion, even though the United States and South Korea call them defensive in nature.
These drills, which include computer simulations and field exercises, will continue through Thursday.
According to a Washington intelligence report last week, Mr Kim is “probably” test nuclear weapons This year he aims to build up his nuclear arsenal. The 2023 annual threat assessment report added that the North Korean leader is likely to continue launching nuclear-armed missiles to “normalize North Korea’s missile tests.”
In February this year, North Korea conducted a surprise attack exercise with the Hwasong-17, the longest-range intercontinental ballistic missile designed to hit the US mainland.
Kim called for an exponential increase in North Korea’s weapons production and declared the country an “irreversible” nuclear power.
The Kim regime also launched cruise missiles from a submarine the day before the drills began, and state media said the submarine-launched missiles would respond with an “overwhelmingly powerful” force to an intensifying military campaign “by the US imperialists.” called it a statement of intent. and the South Korean puppet army. ”
North Korea’s state media claimed on Saturday that “provocations” by the US and South Korea “have crossed the line no longer acceptable”.
