For the fourth time in a week, Pyongyang continues in the show of force. North Korea fired a short-range ballistic missile on Sunday as Seoul and Washington conducted their largest joint military exercises in five years.
“Our military detected a short-range ballistic missile fired from the vicinity of Tongchang-ri area in North Pyongan (northwest) province at 11:05 a.m. toward the East Sea,” the statement said. joint staff, in reference to the Korean name of the Sea of Japan. “Our army stands fully ready, in close cooperation with the United States,” he added. The Japanese Foreign Ministry for its part tweeted that a “possible ballistic missile (had) been launched from North Korea”, the coast guard adding that it seemed to have “already fallen”.
Bringing Seoul and Tokyo closer together
Seoul has been carrying out its most important military maneuvers in five years with Washington since Monday, supposed to strengthen their cooperation in the face of the growing threat from the North. Dubbed “Freedom Shield”, they are to last until March 23. These exercises infuriate Pyongyang, which perceives them as rehearsals for an invasion of its territory and regularly promises an “overwhelming” response. They are “approaching an unforgivable red line”, the official North Korean agency KCNA had said about them on Saturday.
The new launch on Sunday comes after Pyongyang fired its Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), the most powerful in its arsenal, on Thursday in the presence of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and his daughter, and ahead of a visit to Japan by South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol. Cold for years due to a historic dispute, the two neighbors have resumed language at the highest level and decided to present a united front against North Korea.
It was the second ICBM test carried out by Pyongyang this year. The KCNA agency then described it as a response to the “frenzied” military exercises of South Korea and the United States. This shooting itself occurred after the launch Tuesday of two short-range ballistic missiles and those, on March 12, of two strategic cruise missiles from a submarine.