North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles off its east coast on Thursday, South Korea’s army mentioned, in what Pyongyang had warned can be an “inevitable” response to reside fireplace drills that Seoul’s forces had performed earlier within the day with U.S. troops.
North Korea’s launch was the newest in a collection of launches this yr. Last month, it unsuccessfully tried to launch a spy satellite tv for pc.
The newest North Korea missile launch comes as nationwide safety adviser Jake Sullivan is in Tokyo for conferences together with his Japanese and South Korean counterparts.
Sullivan met with South Korea’s Cho Tae-yong, and Japan’s Takeo Akiba, discussing North Korea’s missile program and yearslong however futile efforts to get North Korea to desert its nuclear weapons program.
Meanwhile, in Washington, the U.S. sanctioned two Beijing-based North Koreans, Choe Chol Min and his spouse, Choe Un Jung, who it mentioned have been linked to Pyongyang’s procurement of weapons of mass destruction. The U.S. mentioned the couple labored with Chinese nationals to get supplies to assist construct North Korean missiles and to facilitate the motion of greater than a thousand North Korean staff into China to generate earnings for the Pyongyang regime.
The U.S. Treasury Department mentioned any belongings the 2 North Koreans may maintain within the United States have been frozen.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol watched the live-fire drills by a number of thousand South Korean and U.S. troops within the newest present of power that the allies say is critical to discourage North Korea.
South Korea’s Ok-2 tanks fireplace throughout a South Korea-US joint army drill at Seungjin Fire Training Field in Pocheon on June 15, 2023.
North Korea’s Ministry of National Defense mentioned the drills have been escalating army tensions within the area and that its forces would sternly reply to ‘any sort of protests or provocations by enemies.’
Pyongyang unsuccessfully tried to launch a spy satellite tv for pc late final month, its first satellite tv for pc launch since 2016, with the rocket booster and payload plunging into the ocean.
North Korea’s ballistic missile and nuclear weapons applications are banned by United Nations Security Council resolutions which have sanctioned the nation, however U.S. presidents have been unsuccessful in attempting to finish North Korea’s nuclear risk.
Some data for this report got here from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.