Politics

South Korea, US fire missiles in response to North Korean launch

Seoul Oct 5 (EFE).- The South Korean and United States militaries on Wednesday fired four ground-to-ground missiles into the Sea of Japan in response to North Korea’s launch of an intermediate-range ballistic missile.

Each of the allies fired two missiles from the Army Tactical Missile System, hitting their designated targets, according to the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff in a brief statement. It did not offer further details.

On Tuesday, Pyongyang fired what appears to be a Hwasong-12, flying over Japan for the first time in five years and the longest flight of a North Korean projectile ever, having covered around 4,500 kilometers at a maximum altitude of almost 1,000 km.

South Korea’s President Yoon Suk-yeol condemned the launch on Tuesday and promised a response, which came hours later when a South Korean F-15 fighter jet fired precision Joint Direct Attack Munition bombs on a simulated target in the Yellow Sea.

Many experts believe that the fact that the North Korean projectile flew over Japan for the first time in five years may point to an intensification, in number and scope, of North Korean weapons tests, just as in 2017, when the regime carried out its last nuclear test.

North Korea, which has rejected offers to resume dialogue and remains completely isolated from the outside world due to the pandemic, approved a major weapons modernization plan in 2021.

Satellites have revealed that it has been prepared for months to carry out a new nuclear test in Punggye-ri, and analysts believe that Tuesday’s launch may be a precursor to a new atomic launch. EFE

asb/tw

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