South Korea’s military has reported that North Korea fired approximately ten short-range ballistic missiles into the sea. This follows North Korea’s rejection, just a day earlier, of US President Donald Trump’s directive to scale back joint military exercises with South Korea. The report comes from The Guardian.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) stated that the missiles were launched from the Pyongyang area around 5:00 PM local time on Thursday, heading toward waters off North Korea’s east coast.
The South Korean military confirmed it has stepped up surveillance and is closely coordinating intelligence regarding the launches with the United States and Japan.
South Korea’s National Security Council held an emergency meeting over the incident. A statement issued after the meeting called on North Korea to halt ballistic missile launches.
Such missile launches by North Korea are prohibited under multiple UN Security Council resolutions.
Earlier, the Japanese Prime Minister’s office had also reported the detection of a suspected missile launch.
On Wednesday, the South Korean and US militaries announced they were scaling back the 11-day “Ulchi Freedom Shield” military exercise. Just before the drills began on Monday, Donald Trump had ordered the Pentagon to “significantly reduce” the scope of the exercises.
Explaining the decision, the US President cited his “good relationship” with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Trump also pointed to South Korea’s lack of support for him regarding the ongoing conflict with Iran as a contributing factor.
However, on Wednesday, Kim Yo Jong—the sister of influential North Korean leader Kim Jong Un—dismissed Trump’s move, stating it did not even warrant a comment.
She asserted that even if the duration and scale of the exercises were reduced, their provocative and aggressive nature would remain unchanged. Kim Yo Jong further stated that if the United States thinks its recent moves can be touted as a sign of so-called goodwill, it will not receive the desired response.
