N. Korea fires 3 missiles amid tensions over drone flights
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea fired three short-range ballistic missiles toward its eastern waters in its latest weapons display on Saturday, a day after rival South Korea conducted a rocket launch related to its push to build a space-based surveillance to better monitor the North.
Tensions between the rival Koreas rose this week when South Korea accused North Korea of flying five drones across the tense border for the first time in five years and responded by sending its own drones toward the North.
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South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement it detected the three launches from an inland area south of Pyongyang, the North’s capital, on Saturday morning. It said the three missiles traveled about 350 kilometers (220 miles) before landing in the waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan. The estimated range suggests the missiles tested could target South Korea.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff called the launches “a grave provocation” that undermines international peace. It said South Korea maintains a readiness to “overwhelmingly” deter any provocation by North Korea.
The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said the launches highlight “the destabilizing impact” of North Korea’s unlawful weapons programs and that the U.S. commitments to the defense of South Korea and Japan “remain ironclad.” Earlier Saturday, Japan’s Defense Ministry also reported suspected ballistic missile firings by North Korea.
South Korea’s military on Monday scrambled warplanes and helicopters, but they failed to shoot down any of the North Korean drones before they flew back home or vanished from South Korean radar. One of the North Korean drones traveled as far as northern Seoul, triggering security jitters among many people in the South. South Korea still flew three of its surveillance drones across the border on Monday in an unusual tit-for-tat. South Korea on Thursday staged large-scale military drills to simulate shooting down drones.
