North Korea launched four short-range missiles into the Yellow Sea, the South Korean military said on Saturday, following a record string of missile launches by Pyongyang this week.
The South Korean army detected this Saturday the launch “from Donglim, North Pyongan province, towards the West Sea between 11:32 and 11:39 local time (02:32 and 2:39 GMT and in Lisbon).” the state South Korea’s largest assembly said in a statement, using another name for the Yellow Sea.
North Korea this week launched dozens of missiles into the sea, including an intercontinental ballistic missile that prompted evacuation warnings in northern Japan and piloted fighter jets into its territory.
North Korea described its military actions as an appropriate response to a combination of air exercises between the United States and South Korea, which it called a display of “military confrontation hysteria” by the United States.
The United States flew two B-1B supersonic bombers over South Korea on Wednesday in the final days of the joint exercises, in a show of force designed to intimidate North Korea over its increasingly intense testing activity.
The “Storm Watcher” exercise, in which some 240 warplanes participated, including advanced F-35 fighter jets from both countries, provoked a reaction from North Korea.
“Storm Vigilante” was initially scheduled to end on Friday, but allies decided to extend training until today, in response to a series of North Korean ballistic launches on Thursday, including an ICBM that triggered evacuation alerts and stopped trains. in northern Japan.
Thursday’s launches came after North Korea fired more than 20 missiles on Wednesday, the most it had launched in a single day.
Those launches came after senior North Korean military official Pak Jong Chon issued a thinly veiled threat of nuclear conflict with the United States and South Korea over their joint exercises, which the North says are rehearsals for a possible invasion.
In a statement on Friday attributed to an unnamed spokesman, North Korea’s foreign ministry said the United States and South Korea had created a “seriously unstable atmosphere” in the region with their military exercises.
And he accused the United States of mobilizing its allies in a campaign using sanctions and military threats to pressure North Korea to unilaterally disarm.
“Sustained provocation must be followed by sustained counteraction,” the statement said.
Source: TSF
