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South Korea’s military said on Sunday that North Korea fired an unidentified ballistic missile into the East Sea, just days after a nuclear-powered US aircraft carrier arrived ahead of joint drills.
“North Korea fired an unidentified ballistic missile,” the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the South Korean military said early Sunday, without providing any further details.
The launch comes as the North conducts a record-breaking flurry of weapons tests this year, and comes after reports that Pyongyang may be preparing to fire a submarine-launched ballistic missile.
The Japanese coast guard also confirmed a possible ballistic missile launch, citing information from Tokyo’s defence ministry, and warned ships to be on the lookout.
“Vessels, please be vigilant for new information, and if you spot any foreign objects, please do not approach them but instead notify the coast guard,” the coast guard said.
According to Japan’s public broadcaster NHK, the object appeared to have fallen outside of Japan’s exclusive economic zone.
The nuclear-powered USS Ronald Reagan and vessels from its strike group arrived in Busan, South Korea, on Friday, as part of a push by Seoul and Washington to have more US strategic assets operating in the region.
After years of failed diplomacy with North Korea under his predecessor, South Korea’s hawkish President Yoon Suk-yeol has vowed to increase joint military exercises with the US.
This month, the USS Reagan will participate in joint exercises off the east coast of South Korea.
In order to defend South Korea from the North, Washington, Seoul’s main security ally, has around 28,500 troops there.
The two nations have long conducted joint drills, which they stress are only defensive but which North Korea interprets as preparations for an invasion.
Officials from the US and South Korea have been alerting the public for months that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is getting ready to conduct another nuclear test.
From Sinpo, a significant naval shipyard in North Korea, the North tested a short-range ballistic missile in May.
Six nuclear weapons tests by the isolated dictatorship have taken place since 2006. Its most recent and potent one in 2017 had an estimated yield of 250 kilotons and Pyongyang claimed it was a hydrogen bomb.
