NORTH KOREA FIRES MULTIPLE BALLISTIC MISSILES TOWARD SEA OF JAPAN AMID TENSIONS OVER US–SOUTH KOREA DRILLS
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Agency Report
North Korea on Saturday launched about 10 unidentified ballistic missiles toward the Sea of Japan, according to the military authorities in South Korea, escalating tensions days after Pyongyang warned of “terrible consequences” over ongoing joint military exercises with the United States.
In a statement, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said the missiles were detected at about 1:20 p.m. local time (0420 GMT), launched from the Sunan area in North Korea toward the East Sea, also known as the Sea of Japan.
Japan also confirmed the launch, with the country’s Ministry of Defense of Japan stating on its official social media account that what appeared to be a ballistic missile had been fired from North Korea.
The missile launch came amid renewed geopolitical tensions in the region and shortly after remarks by South Korean Prime Minister Kim Min-seok that Donald Trump believed a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un would be beneficial.
According to Kim Min-seok, the US president indicated openness to a potential summit with the North Korean leader, possibly during a planned visit to Beijing later in March. Washington has for decades led international efforts to dismantle Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons programme, though diplomatic initiatives, sanctions and previous summits have produced limited results.
The Trump administration has recently renewed efforts to revive high-level dialogue with Pyongyang, hoping to pave the way for another meeting between the two leaders. Trump had earlier stated during an Asia trip in October that he was “100 percent” open to meeting Kim Jong Un, though the remark initially received no response from Pyongyang.
In recent weeks, Kim Jong Un suggested relations between the two countries could improve if Washington accepted North Korea’s nuclear status.
Meanwhile, North Korea has continued to harden its stance toward South Korea. Last month, Kim declared that Pyongyang had “absolutely no business dealing with South Korea,” describing it as its “most hostile entity.”
The latest missile launch also comes as South Korea and the United States conduct their annual joint military drills, known as Freedom Shield. The exercise began earlier this week and is expected to run until March 19, involving about 18,000 South Korean troops.
Pyongyang has long condemned such drills as rehearsals for invasion. Earlier this week, Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of Kim Jong Un, warned that the exercises could trigger “unimaginably terrible consequences,” describing them as occurring at a time when global security tensions are rising and conflicts are spreading in different parts of the world.
North Korea has also criticised Washington’s foreign policy, recently condemning a US-Israeli attack on Iran as an “illegal act of aggression” and accusing the United States of behaving like a “rogue” state.
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