North Korea today fired at least 10 missiles of various types, including one that landed “for the first time near South Korean territorial waters”, South Korea’s military said.
“This North Korean missile launch is very unusual and unacceptable as it landed for the first time near South Korean territorial waters, south of the northern border line” since the peninsula was divided, said the director of operations at the South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff Kang Shin-chul to reporters.
In a rare air strike alert broadcast on state television, South Korean authorities urged residents of Ulleung Island, off the east coast, to take cover in underground shelters after North Korea fired three ballistic missiles from short range.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol convened a Security Council meeting to discuss these shootings, considered by analysts as the most “aggressive and threatening” in several years.
Japan also confirmed the launch of North Korean ballistic missiles, with the coast guard warning ships to be careful.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters that he wanted to “hold a national-level security meeting as soon as possible” due to “increasing tensions on the Korean peninsula”.
Seoul and Washington are currently conducting the largest joint air exercise ever, dubbed “Storm Watchful”, involving hundreds of warplanes from both armies.
North Korean marshal and ruling Workers’ Party secretary Pak Jong Chon said the drills were aggressive, according to official North Korean media.
“If the United States and South Korea attempt to use the armed forces against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea [North Korea’s official name] without fear, the special assets of the DPRK armed forces will carry out their strategic mission without delay.” , said Pak, according to the official North Korean news agency KCNA.
“The US and South Korea will have to face a terrible case and pay the most horrible price in history,” Pak added.
One of the missiles landed on the high seas just 57 kilometers (35 miles) east of the South Korean mainland, the South Korean army said.
Last Friday, the South Korean military said Pyongyang fired two short-range ballistic missiles.
The two Koreas are technically still at war, as the 1950-53 conflict ended with the signing of an armistice rather than a peace treaty.
