North Korea has fired another missile after its latest series of missile tests, according to the South Korean military. The short-range missile was fired in the direction of the Sea of Japan (Korean: East Sea) on Friday (local time), the Yonhap Agency reported, citing the South Korean General Staff. Accordingly, the ballistic missile started at night near the North Korean capital Pyongyang.
There was also an incident involving fighter jets on Thursday: the South Korean news agency Yonhap reported, citing the General Staff in South Korea, that ten North Korean fighter jets had been spotted 25 kilometers north of the inner-Korean border. In response, South Korean fighter jets took off.
North Korea, on the other hand, accused its neighbor of “provocative behavior” near the shared border. The North Korean People’s Army is sending a “strict warning” to the South Korean military, the North Korean news agency KCNA reported. Seoul is fueling “military tensions” in the border area with “reckless actions.” According to KCNA, a North Korean army spokesman said the South Korean army fired artillery “for about ten hours” on Thursday. In response to the “provocative behavior,” Pyongyang had “taken strong military countermeasures.”
On Wednesday, ruler Kim Jong Un witnessed the launch of two long-range cruise missiles, the state news agency KCNA reported on Thursday. These took off from the western province of South Pyongan in the direction of the Yellow Sea and, after a flight duration of 10,234 seconds, hit their targets 2,000 kilometers away exactly.
According to KCNA, the government had previously justified its missile tests in response to the recent naval maneuvers by the South Korean and US armed forces, in which the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan took part for the first time in four years. Despite international criticism, the North Korean military has carried out rocket tests at an unusually high frequency since the end of September. According to the government itself, this was intended to simulate the shelling of South Korean airfields with tactical nuclear weapons.
At the beginning of the month, Pyongyang also launched a medium-range missile over the Japanese archipelago for the first time in five years. The last time North Korea launched a missile over Japan in 2017, the country conducted a nuclear weapons test just days later.
