North Korea launch short-range ballistic missile ahead of joint drill.
The nuclear-armed North is conducting increasingly provocative forbidden weapons tests, and in reaction. Seoul has pushed to increase security cooperation with Washington.
As a result, relations between the two Koreas are at one of their worst points in decades.
As the US considers moving more forces to the region to defend ally Seoul. Kim Jong Un’s regime last year declared North Korea a “irreversible” nuclear power and vowed to exponentially boost weapon development. including tactical nuclear weapons.
In a statement released from Seoul the Joint Chiefs of Staff stated that they “detected the launch of one short-range. Ballistic missile from the North’s western port city of Nampo around 6:20 pm (0920 GMT)”.
The likelihood that North Korea launched multiple short-range ballistic missiles. Simultaneously from the same area was also being examined, it was stated.
Since we have increased our monitoring and vigilance. Our military “maintains a full readiness posture while closely coordinating with the US,” the statement added.
Long claiming that its nuclear and missile programmes are for self-defense. North Korea has reacted angrily to US-South Korea military drills. Branding them as invasion drills.
Earlier this week, North Korea accused the US of “deliberately” cranking up tensions. And Kim’s influential sister warned that if the US were to intercept one of Pyongyang’s missile tests, it would be considered as a “clear declaration of war”.
Diplomacy has stalled and the North has increased its focus on military development after discussions between Kim and the then-US president Donald Trump broke down in 2019. In response to rising threats from Pyongyang, South Korea’s hardline President Yoon Suk Yeol has taken steps to strengthen diplomatic ties and security cooperation with Tokyo and Washington.
On April 26, Yoon will be welcomed by US President Joseph Biden for a state visit, and the South Korean president will also go to Tokyo the following week, according to his office.
