North Korea Flexes Missile Might After U.S.-Led Drills
In a defiant move, North Korea test-fired two ballistic missiles on Monday, just a day after vowing "offensive and overwhelming" responses to a new U.S. military drill with South Korea and Japan. The launches came as a stern rebuke to the trilateral security partnership, which Pyongyang has condemned as an Asian version of NATO.
According to South Korea's military, the missiles were launched 10 minutes apart in a northeasterly direction from the town of Jangyon in southeastern North Korea. The Joint Chiefs of Staff stated that the first missile flew 370 miles, while the second missile traveled only 75 miles, raising suspicions of an abnormal flight.
Joint Chiefs of Staff spokesperson Lee Sung Joon later revealed that the second missile possibly suffered an anomaly during the initial stage of its flight. While no immediate damages were reported, Lee acknowledged that additional analysis of the second missile launch was underway.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff condemned the North's launches as a provocation that poses a grave threat to peace on the Korean Peninsula. They reiterated South Korea's firm readiness to repel any provocations by North Korea in conjunction with the United States.
The launches occurred just two days after South Korea, the U.S., and Japan concluded their new multidomain trilateral drills in the region, dubbed "Freedom Edge." These drills aimed to enhance the sophistication of previous exercises by incorporating simultaneous air and naval maneuvers, focusing on improving joint ballistic missile defense, anti-submarine warfare, surveillance, and other critical capabilities.
North Korea's Foreign Ministry strongly denounced the "Freedom Edge" drill, labeling the U.S.-South Korea-Japan partnership an Asian version of NATO. In a scathing statement on Sunday, the ministry accused the drill of openly destroying the security environment on the Korean Peninsula and portraying U.S. intentions to lay siege to China and exert pressure on Russia.
The statement warned that North Korea will "firmly defend the sovereignty, security, and interests of the state and peace in the region through offensive and overwhelming countermeasures."
Monday's missile launches were the first weapons firing by North Korea in five days, following a claimed successful test of a multiwarhead missile on Wednesday, designed to defeat U.S. and South Korean missile defenses. However, South Korea dismissed the North's claim as an attempt to cover up a failed launch.
As tensions simmer on the Korean Peninsula, North Korea has also resorted to launching trash-carrying balloons toward South Korea in response to South Korean activists sending political leaflets via their own balloons. Last month, North Korea and Russia struck a mutual defense pact, raising concerns that it could embolden North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to launch more provocations against South Korea.
Meanwhile, North Korea opened a key ruling party meeting on Friday to determine what it called "important, immediate issues" related to enhancing Korean-style socialism. Observers suggest the meeting is ongoing as Pyongyang continues to flex its military muscle and defy international calls for denuclearization.