South Korea’s military said that North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the sea off its east coast on Monday morning. This was the latest in a series of launches that have been going on while the U.S. and South Korea are doing military drills.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said that the missiles were launched from North Hwanghae province at 7:47 a.m. (22:47 GMT on Sunday) and flew about 370 kilometers (230 miles).
Japanese media say that it looks like both missiles fell outside of Japan’s exclusive economic zone.
South Korea’s military called the launches a “grave provocation” that went against UN Security Council resolutions and “strongly condemned” them. They also asked that they stop right away.
In a statement, the JCS said, “We will keep a close eye on North Korea’s different actions and keep a firm readiness posture based on the ability to respond overwhelmingly to any provocation.” It also said that military drills with the US would go on as planned.
The Japanese government also said that North Korea’s missile launches threaten the safety and peace of Japan, the region, and the rest of the world.
The launch is the latest in a long line of weapons tests by the North. On Wednesday, Pyongyang fired a number of cruise missiles in what it said was a practice run for a nuclear attack.
North Korea said on Friday that it had tested a new underwater attack drone that could carry nuclear weapons. At the same time, leader Kim Jong Un said that military drills between South Korea and the U.S. should stop.
Freedom Shield 23, the allies’ regular springtime exercises, ended last week. However, other field training is still going on, such as landing drills with a U.S. amphibious assault ship.
Pyongyang has been annoyed for a long time by the drills of the allies, which it says are practice for an invasion of the North.
South Korea and the US say that the drills are for defense.
