Seoul (South Korea): North Korea fired about 10 ballistic missiles into the eastern sea on Saturday in a stark show of force just as the US and South Korea kicked off a joint military exercises, South Korea’s military said.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff reported the missiles launched from near Pyongyang, the North Korean capital. They did not immediately release flight distances. Japan’s Defense Ministry confirmed the weapons fell outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone.
In response, South Korea’s military increased surveillance even as it stayed ready for more launches and sharing information closely with the US and Japan.
These launches align with the annual US-South Korea spring drills where thousands of troops take part, with the Trump administration has escalates its military campaign in the Middle East, this time around.
That conflict has sparked worries in South Korea about defense gaps. Local media, citing security footage and images, reported possible US moves of missile defenses to aid Middle East operations.
The Associated Press asked President Lee Jae-myung’s office this week about shifting Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptors from Seongju. The office replied it could not confirm US military details, as published by Mint.
It stressed that any asset relocations would not harm defenses against nuclear-armed North Korea. South Korea’s strong conventional forces provide reassurance, it said. The office gave a similar answer on reports of moving Patriot systems.
North Korea often calls the allies’ drills “invasion rehearsals.” It uses them as cover for its own tests. In past years, the North fired missile salvos and artillery, calling them nuclear attack simulations on South Korea.
This came days after Kim Yo Jong — powerful sister of leader Kim Jong Un — blasted the drills on Tuesday. She said they undermine stability “at a perilous moment for global security.”
“The US-South Korea drills undermine regional stability at a time when the global security structure is ‘collapsing rapidly and wars break out in different parts of the world due to the reckless acts of outrageous international rogues,’” she stated, according to North Korean media.
Kim Yo Jong warned further: “Any challenge to the North’s safety would bring ‘terrible consequences.’”
