After threatening a retaliatory strike against future military exercises by South Korea and the United States, North Korea fired a long-range ballistic missile into the ocean off the west coast of Japan.
The missile, which may have been one of Pyongyang’s largest, reportedly fell into the ocean on Saturday inside Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) more than an hour after it was launched, according to Japanese authorities.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff of South Korea reported that North Korea launched an unidentified ballistic missile into the East Sea, popularly known as the Sea of Japan.
The missile traveled around 900 kilometers (560 miles) before splashing into the water, according to the joint chiefs of staff, who denounced the launch as a “obvious violation of UN Security Council resolutions.”
Hirokazu Matsuno, the government spokesman for Japan, told reporters that North Korea fired a “ICBM-class ballistic missile” to the east, alluding to the increasingly tested long-range intercontinental ballistic missiles.
The missile appears to have landed “inside Japan’s EEZ, west of Hokkaido,” according to Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
He continued, “It is an increasing provocation to the entire world community, and of course we severely registered a complaint against it.
There have been no recent reports of aircraft or ships being damaged, according to Japanese officials.
The “presumed long-range missile,” according to South Korean officials, was fired from the Sunan region close to Pyongyang. The Pyongyang International Airport is located in Sunan, and this is where North Korea has carried out the majority of its most recent ICBM testing.
After the launch on Saturday, the National Security Council of South Korea met and decided to expand security cooperation with Washington and Japan.
According to a statement from the US Indo-Pacific Command, US commitments to the defense of Japan and South Korea “remain unwavering.”
The statement said, “While we have determined that this occurrence does not immediately pose a threat to US soldiers, territory, or our allies, we will continue to monitor the situation.
The White House vehemently denounced the launch and vowed to take all necessary precautions to defend the US nation and its partners in the region.
According to Adrienne Watson, a spokesperson for the White House National Security Council, the launch “needlessly escalates tensions and risks disrupting the security situation in the region.”
After South Korea announced its intention to conduct military drills, the foreign ministry of North Korea threatened to take “unprecedentedly” severe action against it. That day, the launch took place.
In a statement released on Friday, North Korea charged that Seoul and Washington had planned more than 20 rounds of military drills, including massive field exercises, and referred to them as “the arch-criminals actively disturbing regional peace and stability.”
According to the South Korean defense ministry, the US tabletop exercise, which is due to take place on Wednesday, will investigate military options for dealing with nuclear-armed North Korea and develop crisis management strategies.
“Both sides will have in-depth discussions on various measures to strengthen US extended deterrence, including information sharing and consultation procedures,” the ministry said in a statement. “Both sides will have a focus on North Korea’s nuclear threats.”
South Korea’s deputy minister of national defense policy, Heo Tae-keun, also informed lawmakers on Friday that the two nations would conduct larger-scale joint field exercises in mid-March than they had in recent years. Live-fire drills are anticipated to be a part of the training.
The most recent launch came after a record-breaking year for North Korean weaponry displays, during which Pyongyang fired over 70 ballistic missiles, including intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) capable of reaching the US mainland.
Along with establishing legislation designating the nation as a “irreversibly” nuclear state, North Korea has also carried out many launches that it has termed as mock nuclear assaults against South Korean and US targets.
Although the missile did not go very far, it did so quite high—14 times higher than the ISS. It is a powerful weapon that, if they choose, might deliver a nuclear weapon.
Heightened joint military exercises by South Korea and important allies have been in response to Pyongyang’s increased actions.
That came after a time of restraint during the COVID-19 outbreak and Donald Trump’s unsuccessful diplomatic offensive.
As a result of the 1950–1953 Korean War, which ended in an armistice rather than a formal peace treaty and left the two nations technically still at war, there are about 28,500 US troops stationed in South Korea.
The first launch from North Korea since January 1 was on Saturday.
A missile launched by Pyongyang was also thought to have touched down in Japan’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in November.
