N Korea fires two short-range missiles into the sea
North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the sea Wednesday in what appeared to be a statement of defiance as the United States deployed a nuclear-armed submarine to South Korea for the first time in decades.
The launches came as the US and the US-led United Nations Command worked to resolve the highly unusual situation involving a US soldier who crossed into North Korea while on a tour of a border village Tuesday afternoon, AP reported.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said that from 3:30 to 3:46 a.m. North Korea fired two missiles from an area near the capital Pyongyang that flew about 550 kilometers before landing in waters east of the Korean Peninsula.
The Japanese military said the missiles landed outside of Japan’s exclusive economic zone and no damage to ships or aircraft was reported.
The flight distance of the two missiles roughly matched the distance between Pyongyang and the South Korean port city of Busan, where the USS Kentucky arrived Tuesday afternoon in the first visit by a US nuclear-armed submarine to South Korea since the 1980s.
Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada told reporters the missiles flew on a low trajectory, reached about 50 kilometers (31 miles) in altitude and may have made irregular maneuvers in flight. That language has been used in the past to describe a North Korean weapon modeled after Russia’s Iskander missile, which is designed to be maneuverable in flight to improve its chances of evading missile defenses.
The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff condemned the North Korean launches as “major provocation” that threatens peace and stability in the region and said the South Korean and US militaries were closely monitoring the North for further weapons activities.
Wednesday’s launches marked the North’s first ballistic activity since July 12, when it flight-tested a new solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile that demonstrated potential range to reach deep into the US mainland. That launch was supervised by the country’s leader Kim Jong-un, who vowed to further bolster his country’s nuclear-fighting capabilities in the face of expanding US-South Korean military activities, which he blamed for worsening the security environment on the Korean Peninsula.
Tensions have rose in the region in recent months as the pace of both North Korean weapons tests and US-South Korean joint military drills have increased in a cycle of tit-for-tat.