Despite strong protests, North Korea has continued its series of missile tests. South Korea’s military said North Korea again fired two short-range ballistic missiles toward the Sea of Japan (Korean: East Sea) on Thursday, South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency reported.
The missiles were launched near the North Korean capital Pyongyang. No further details were initially given. South Korea announced on Wednesday that the United States wanted to send its nuclear-powered aircraft carrier “USS Ronald Reagan” back to the waters east of the Korean peninsula.
Most recently, the ship arrived in September for its first visit to South Korea in nearly four years and participated in naval maneuvers between South Korean and US forces. The aircraft carrier is expected to participate in another exercise with South Korea and Japan in international waters, according to Yonhap.
On Tuesday, Pyongyang fired a medium-range ballistic missile that flew over the Japanese archipelago for the first time in almost five years. Both the US and NATO sharply condemned the test. In response, the US and South Korea launched four surface-to-surface missiles toward the Sea of Japan on Wednesday.
The last time North Korea launched a missile over Japan in 2017, the country conducted a nuclear weapons test just days later. UN resolutions prohibit North Korea from testing ballistic missiles of any range, which, depending on the design, can also carry a nuclear warhead. Since September 25, North Korea has used it to launch missiles six times.
