North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan on Monday, South Korean military officials confirmed, in an apparent protest over the presence of a major US naval force in South Korea.
These latest two tests in the Sea of Japan (designated the East Sea by the two Koreas) bring to 16 the number of missile launches carried out by the Kim Jong-un regime in 2023.
On July 12, Pyongyang conducted a test of the Hwasong-18, its most sophisticated intercontinental ballistic missile.
The United States and South Korea have increased the number of joint military exercises and strengthened the regional deployment of US strategic assets, such as bombers, aircraft carriers and submarines, in a show of force against North Korea, which has tested some 100 missiles since early 2022.
A US nuclear-powered submarine also arrived in South Korea last week, the second deployment of a major US naval asset to the Korean Peninsula, bolstering the show of force to counter North Korea’s nuclear threats.
The USS Annapolis arrived at a port on Jeju Island about a week after the USS Kentucky docked in the mainland port of Busan.
The Kentucky was the first nuclear-armed US submarine to reach South Korea since the 1980s.
North Korea reacted to the presence of the ships by conducting a test of cruise and ballistic missiles, in an apparent demonstration that it could carry out nuclear strikes against South Korea and US warships.
Thursday marks the 70th anniversary of the signing of the armistice agreement that ended the inter-Korean war in 1953.
Source: TSF
