SEOUL, Nov 2 (Reuters) – North Korea fired at least 17 missiles into the sea on Wednesday. Among them was one that landed within 60 kilometers of the South Korean coast on Wednesday, prompting South Korea to issue a rare air raid alert and prompt it to launch its own missiles. In response to the.
It was the first time a ballistic missile had landed near South Korean waters and the largest number of missiles launched by North Korea in a single day.
The missile landed outside of South Korea’s territorial waters, but is disputed at the North-South maritime border south of the Northern Limit Line (NLL) in what South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol called “an effective act of territorial encroachment.” there is
South Korean fighter jets responded by firing three air-to-surface missiles over the NLL into the North Sea, according to the South Korean military. Officials said the weapon used included a 360 kg (800-lb) warhead.
The South Korean launch came after Yoon’s office pledged a “quick and decisive response” so that North Korea would “pay for the provocation.”
According to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), the North Korean weapon was one of three short-range ballistic missiles launched into the sea from North Korea’s Wonsan coastal region. The JCS later said 14 missiles of various types were launched from North Korea’s east and west coasts.
At least one of the missiles landed 26 kilometers south of the NLL, 57 kilometers (35 miles) from South Korea’s Sokcho city on the east coast, and 167 kilometers from Ulleungdo, where an air raid warning was issued, according to the JCS. issued.
“At around 8:55 a.m., sirens were heard and everyone in the building descended into an underground shelter,” an Ulleung County official told Reuters. “When I heard that the projectile had fallen into the high seas, I stayed there until I went upstairs at about 9:15.”
Residents in the southern part of the island said they had not been warned.
South Korea’s military said North Korea also fired more than 100 artillery rounds from its east coast into a military buffer zone established in a military pact with South Korea.
JCS said the dismissal violated the 2018 agreement.
A nuclear-armed North Korea has tested a record number of missiles this year, with officials in Seoul and Washington saying North Korea has completed technical preparations to conduct its first nuclear weapons test since 2017. Says.
The launch comes hours after North Korea called on the United States and South Korea to halt large-scale military exercises, saying “military recklessness and provocation can no longer be tolerated.”
The US and South Korea begin one of the largest joint military aviation drills on Monday, despite President Yun’s declaration of a national week of mourning after a weekend crowd surge in Seoul killed more than 150 people. The exercise, called Vigilant Storm, involves hundreds of fighters from both sides conducting mock attacks around the clock.read more
major military exercises
North Korea has said the latest series of launches were in response to allied exercises.
North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party Central Committee secretary Park Jong-cheon said in a statement Wednesday that the number of fighter jets involved in Vigilant Storm was “aggressive and provocative”, particularly the North. He said that he had proved that it was aimed at North Korea. He said even the name mimicked the US-led Operation Desert Storm against Iraq in the 1990s.
“The excessive movements of hostile forces for military confrontation have created a grave situation on the Korean Peninsula,” Park said in a statement reported by the state-run news agency KCNA.
U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price said Tuesday in Washington that the exercise was “purely defensive in nature” and that the U.S. has no animosity toward North Korea. said.
Price added that the United States and its allies have made it clear that a “dangerous and destabilizing step” would have “tremendous costs and grave consequences” if North Korea resumed nuclear testing. rice field. He didn’t elaborate on the results.
A separate State Department said Wednesday that the United States “condemns North Korea’s ballistic missile launch and its reckless decision to launch the missile below its de facto maritime demarcation line with the Republic of Korea.”
During a phone call with US Secretary of State Anthony Brinken, Foreign Minister Park Jin said the North Korean missile launch was “unprecedented” and a “grave military provocation”. The two officials condemned the launch and agreed to cooperate against the North Korean threat, Park’s office said in a statement.
Launching missiles in a ‘new way’
South Korea’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism said some maritime air routes between North Korea and Japan would be closed until Thursday morning because of the launch.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff said, “Our military cannot tolerate North Korea’s provocations, and we will deal with them strictly and resolutely under close cooperation between South Korea and the United States.”
Japan’s Defense Minister Hamada said the government believes at least two ballistic missiles were launched from North Korea.
The first flew 150 kilometers to a maximum altitude of about 150 kilometers, and the second flew from 200 kilometers to a maximum altitude of 100 kilometers, he told reporters in Tokyo Wednesday morning.
North Korea’s actions threaten the peace and stability of Japan, the wider region and the wider international community and are totally unacceptable, Hamada said.
“North Korea is repeatedly launching missiles at unprecedented speeds in new ways that have never been seen before,” he said.
(This article has been refiled to remove extra characters from the heading)
Reporting by Soo-hyang Choi, Choonsik Yoo and Josh Smith. Additional reporting by David Brunnstrom, Washington and Sakura Murakami, Tokyo. Edited by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Gerry Doyle
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