Days after Pyongyang threatened to shoot down US spy planes that had violated its airspace, Seoul’s military confirmed on Wednesday that North Korea had launched a ballistic missile.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff stated that “North Korea fired an unidentified ballistic missile towards the East Sea”, referring to the body of water also known as the Sea of Japan.
Relations between the two Koreas are at an all-time low, with negotiations stalled and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un declaring his country’s nuclear status as irreversible and asking for additional weapon development, including tactical nukes.
According to a statement released by the official Korean Central News Agency, the spokesperson stated, “There is no guarantee that such a shocking accident as the downing of the US Air Force strategic reconnaissance plane will not happen in the East Sea of Korea”.
According to a second statement, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s powerful sister Kim Yo Jong stated that a US spy plane breached the country’s eastern airspace twice on Monday morning.
Kim Yo Jong stated that the North would not immediately retaliate to US surveillance missions outside of the country’s exclusive economic zone, but warned that the US military would face decisive action if it breached its maritime military demarcation line.
Washington announced in April that one of its nuclear-armed ballistic submarines would visit a South Korean port for the first time in decades, but provided no specific date.
North Korea has performed a number of sanctions-evading launches this year, including the test-firing of its most powerful intercontinental ballistic missile and the attempted launch of a military surveillance satellite in May.
In response, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has increased defence cooperation with Washington, organizing joint military drills with modern stealth jets and formidable US strategic weapons.
Yoon is scheduled to attend a NATO conference in Lithuania this week, where he will seek deeper cooperation with alliance countries in response to North Korea’s rising nuclear and missile threats, according to his office.
Next month, South Korea and the United States will begin their big annual joint military exercises known as Ulchi Freedom Shield.
North Korea views all such exercises as invasion rehearsals, describing them as frantic drills simulating an all-out war against Pyongyang.
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