South Korea is worried. On Friday, the South Korean military said two short-range ballistic missiles were fired into the East Sea, also known as the Sea of Japan, by North Korea. The shooting took place around 4:32 p.m., 8:32 a.m. French time, said the South Korean joint staff.
“Our army maintains a posture of full availability”, cooperates “closely with the United States” and reinforces “surveillance and vigilance”, warned the staff. The launch comes after a year of unprecedented weapons testing by North Korea, including the launch of its most advanced intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in November.
Coordinated exercises between US and South Korean armed forces
Earlier in the week, leader Kim Jong-un’s sister, Kim Yo-jong, also insisted that the North had developed advanced technologies to take images from space using a spy satellite. His reaction follows taunts from some pundits downplaying the quality of photos believed to have been taken during a launch this weekend.
The United States and South Korea have been warning for months that Pyongyang is about to carry out its seventh nuclear test. The two countries held a joint air exercise on Tuesday and deployed a US B-52H strategic bomber to the Korean Peninsula, the Southern Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.
The long-range heavy bomber was part of an exercise that included the most advanced military aircraft from the United States and South Korea, including the F-22 and F-35 stealth fighters. Friday’s launch came hours after the White House said Pyongyang had delivered weapons to Russian private military group Wagner.