North Korea fires 3 ballistic missiles, says Seoul

Seoul, May 25 (EFE).- North Korea on Wednesday fired three ballistic missiles towards the Sea of Japan, according to South Korea’s military.

The missile tests, now totaling 17 since the beginning of the year, come a day after United States President Joe Biden concluded an Asia tour in Tokyo, which also took him to South Korea and was focused on addressing Pyongyang’s weapons challenges, among other issues.

The first of the launches took place around 6 am local time (21:00 GMT Tuesday) and the other two at 6.37 am and 6.42 am, according to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, adding they all took place from Sunan area of Pyongyang.

The Japanese authorities also detected two launches and said that the projectiles might have fallen outside of its exclusive economic zone, according to the public broadcaster NHK.

Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Tokyo was compiling more details and that the government has given instructions to guarantee the safety of the ships in the area, NHK added.

South Korea’s President Yoon Suk-yeol also called a meeting of the National Security Council to analyze the launches and to try to determine what type of ballistic missiles they were.

They come after Pyongyang fired three short-range ballistic missiles on the 12th.

Washington, Seoul and Tokyo have been warning for weeks that Pyongyang was preparing to launch an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) imminently.

Added to this is the fact that the regime is suspected to have been preparing what would be its first nuclear test since 2017.

During his visit to South Korea last weekend and his subsequent trip to Japan between Sunday and Tuesday, Biden stressed the need to increase deterrence capacity on the Korean Peninsula in the face of North Korean provocations, although he also left the open door to dialogue with Pyongyang. EFE

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