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After warning against the US repositioning of an aircraft carrier for a fresh round of rehearsals with South Korean warships, North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles on Sunday toward its eastern waters. This was the most current of its string of recent weapons tests.
The two missiles were fired at 1:48 and 1:58 on Sunday from Munchon, a city on the eastern coast of the North, according to a statement from South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff. In close coordination with the US military, it was claimed, South Korea’s military has increased its monitoring posture and maintains a readiness.
The Japanese authorities also said that North Korea may have launched ballistic missiles. According to his office, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida gave officials the go-ahead to do everything in their power to gather and examine information about the alleged launches, inform the public as soon as any information was accurate, and ensure the safety of ships and aircraft in the area of Japan. He also instructed officials to be ready for any eventualities and ensure the safety of aircraft and ships within Japan.
According to the Japanese coast guard, it has alerted ships passing by the country’s coasts about falling items and requested that they avoid the area. The launch—the North’s sixth round of weapons testing in the past two weeks—came hours after South Korea and the United States finished a fresh round of naval exercises off the east coast of the Korean Peninsula.
The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan and its battle group participated in the exercises after returning to the region last week after North Korea flew a potent missile over Japan to protest the carrier group’s prior training with South Korea.
The Regan’s redeployment was having a significant negative impact on regional security, the North Korean Defense Ministry warned on Saturday. The recent missile tests by the North were justified retaliation for coercive military exercises between its enemies, according to the North’s Defense Ministry.
North Korea views military drills involving the US and South Korea as practise for an invasion, and it becomes especially sensitive if such exercises involve vital US assets like an aircraft carrier. North Korea has claimed that the US nuclear threats drove it to develop a nuclear weapons programme. Officials from the US and South Korea have frequently stated that they do not intend to strike the North.
With its most recent launches, North Korea increased the pace of its historically high number of nuclear tests this year. For the first time in five years, a nuclear-capable missile that was used in the most recent weapons tests sailed over Japan. It also showed that the missile had the range to attack Guam and other areas of the US Pacific Ocean.
The US mainland and its allies South Korea and Japan are within striking distance of additional nuclear-capable ballistic missiles that North Korea launched earlier this year. Due to his desire to concentrate on building up his stockpile of missiles, North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong Un, appears to have little interest in establishing diplomatic relations with the US.
However, some experts claim that Kim would eventually seek to use his highly developed nuclear programme to extract greater concessions from the outside world, such as the recognition of North Korea as a legitimate nuclear state, which Kim believes is necessary to get the UN sanctions against his country lifted.
South Korean officials recently stated that North Korea was ready to conduct its first underground nuclear test since 2017 as well as test a new liquid-fueled intercontinental ballistic missile and a ballistic missile launched from a submarine.
