SEOUL – North Korea launched two short-range ballistic missiles off its east coast on Saturday, a day after the United States, Japan and South Korea conducted a rare joint anti-submarine naval exercise. rather.
The rockets were launched from the Sunan district of Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea, and landed in waters off the east coast, the South Korean military said. North Korea often conducts missile tests from Sunan, the district where Pyongyang International Airport is located.
The country has conducted four missile tests since Sunday, launching a total of seven short-range ballistic missiles. The tests were largely seen as a response to joint military exercises by the United States and its allies in the region.
The South Korean and US navies, including the aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan, conducted joint exercises off the east coast of the Korean Peninsula from Monday to Thursday. On Friday, the Japanese navy joined them in a tripartite exercise to demonstrate their combined ability to detect and track enemy submarines, amid signal that North Korea might be preparing to kick in a new submarine it was built over many years and to test submarine-launched ballistic missiles.
This is the first tripartite exercise of its kind since 2017.
South Korea and the United States have conducted joint military exercises annually for decades. They were canceled or scaled back under former President Donald J. Trump and former President Moon Jae-in of South Korea to give more impetus to diplomatic with the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un. But when President Biden and the new leader of Korea, Yoon Suk Yeol,meet in May, they agreed to intensify exercises to counter North Korea’s growing nuclear and missile threat.
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Due to deep anti-Japanese sentiment among its people, South Korea has been wary of conducting joint military exercises with Japan, although Washington wants Seoul and Tokyo to work more closely to help deter North Korea. But under Mr. Yoon, Korea has become more open to such cooperation. In August, three countries conduct joint missile warning and ballistic missile search and tracking exercise off the coast of Hawaii, also the first since 2017.
North Korea accuses the United States and its allies of conducting such drills in preparation for an invasion; Washington and its allies call their exercises purely defensive in nature.
So far, North Korea has conducted 22 missile tests this year, more than in any other year. Officials from both the United States and South Korea have warned for weeks that the country could also restart tests at Punggye-ri . underground nuclear test site in the northeast of the country. In recent weeks, they have also detected increased activity at Sinpo on the east coast, where North Korea has test submarine-launched ballistic missile since 2015.
Such a missile is one of a series of new weapons that Kim has command North Korea’s military will grow, as he has vowed to strengthen its nuclear and missile capabilities.”with the fastest possible speed. “
During a visit to South Korea this week, Vice President Kamala Harris called North Korea a “brutal dictatorship” and called its missile tests “provocative” and “destabilizing.”
North Korea’s missile launch on Saturday came hours before South Korea is scheduled to mark its Armed Forces Day with a scheduled ceremony that includes a speech by Mr. Yoon.
“Despite North Korea’s internal weaknesses and international isolation, North Korea is rapidly modernizing its weapons and taking advantage of it,” said Leif-Eric Easley, professor of international studies at Ewha Womans. of a world divided by the US-China rivalry and Russia’s annexation of more Ukrainian territory. University in Seoul. “The Kim regime is also playing hard with the Yoon government while Korean politics is troubled by infighting.”
