South Korea on Wednesday ordered residents of Ulleung Island, off the east coast, to retreat to shelters after North Korea fired an “unidentified ballistic missile.”
An air raid warning, broadcast by authorities on South Korean television, warned the island’s residents to “take shelter in the nearest underground shelter.”
The missile was headed for the island but fell offshore, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported, citing defense officials.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said it had “detected three short-range ballistic missiles launched by North Korea from the Wonsan area of Gangwon province into the East Sea.” [nome dado ao mar do Japão pelas duas Coreias]at 08:51 [23h51 em Lisboa] this Wednesday.”
“One of the missiles landed in the high seas, south of the North Border Line, in the East Sea,” according to a statement, referring to the division that delimits the waters between the two Koreas.
In the same note, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff confirmed that it issued an anti-aircraft alert for Ulleung Island, due to an analysis of the missile’s trajectory, but added that “details are still being verified.”
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol called an emergency meeting of the Security Council in the wake of these shootings, the presidency said.
The launch of these missiles occurred at a time of growing tension on the Korean peninsula, marked by successive shots from Pyongyang and the military maneuvers that Seoul and Washington are carrying out in the region.
This is North Korea’s 36th shot this year, a record number.
Technically, the two Koreas are still at war, as the 1950-53 conflict ended with the signing of an armistice rather than a peace treaty.
Source: TSF
