The South Korean military announced that North Korea launched two short-range ballistic missiles off its eastern coast on Monday morning, in the latest series of launches coinciding with joint military drills between the United States and South Korea. The Joint Chiefs of Staff in South Korea stated that the missiles were launched from North Hwanghae Province and traveled approximately 370 kilometers. Japanese media reported that the Japanese Coast Guard said the missiles fell into waters outside Japan's exclusive economic zone.
The South Korean military firmly condemned the launch, describing it as a serious provocation that violates United Nations Security Council resolutions and called for an immediate halt. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida ordered officials to gather and analyze information related to the launch and to ensure the safety of aircraft and ships.
This launch is the latest in a series of weapons tests conducted by North Korea, which included the firing of several cruise missiles last Wednesday, an exercise that Pyongyang stated was aimed at training for tactical nuclear strikes. For its part, the U.S. military in the Indo-Pacific region remarked that "North Korea's launch of two ballistic missiles does not pose a threat to individuals or territory in the United States."
The missile launches come as the American aircraft carrier Nimitz and its accompanying ships are scheduled to dock at a South Korean naval base in Busan, southeastern Korea, tomorrow. The South Korean Ministry of Defense said that the carrier will conduct joint naval exercises with South Korean forces today off the southern coast of the Korean Peninsula before arriving at the base. The ministry added that the visit of the aircraft carrier, the first since the Ronald Reagan visited in September, was arranged as part of efforts to deploy more U.S. "strategic military assets" in the region to deter North Korea.
