North Korea launched a new short-range ballistic missile into the Japan Sea, also known as the East Sea, on Thursday in response to ongoing U.S. and South Korean military exercises in the region. The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) reported in a statement:
Our military captured a short-range ballistic missile launched by North Korea into the East Sea from Wonsan, Gangwon Province, at around 10:48 local time (1:48 GMT) today, Nov. 17.
Japan also confirmed the missile firing. The government said that it is "a threat to the peace and security of the country" and that it continues to "collect and analyze the necessary information and closely monitor North Korea's military trends in close cooperation with the United States and South Korea."
"Fiercer" military actions
The launch came two hours after North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hue warned that the country would take "fiercer" military action if the U.S. continues "its campaign to strengthen extended deterrence to its allies in the region."
The more enthusiastic the United States is in the deterrence extended to its allies and the more it intensifies provocative military activities on the Korean Peninsula and in the region, the fiercer will be North Korea's direct military reaction. It will pose a more serious, realistic and unavoidable threat to the United States and its forces... The United States will be well aware that it is gambling, which it will undoubtedly regret.
"It is necessary to remember that the U.S. and its followers conducted large-scale war exercises of aggression one after another, but failed to restrain the strong reaction of the DPRK, which resulted in an escalation of its security crisis," the minister added.
The statement by the North Korean regime came in response to the joint statement made by Joe Biden along with South Korean and Japanese leadership during a meeting in Cambodia, where they strongly condemned North Korea's missile testing and said they would continue to work together to strengthen deterrence.
Hundreds of missiles
While North Korea regularly conducts missile launches, South Korean and U.S. troops expand regular exercises and resume trilateral training with Japan.
At the beginning of November, the North Korean regime fired a hundred projectiles. The North Korean government stated that its military activities are legitimate, as it considers the cooperation between the U.S. and South Korean armed forces to be an offensive preparation for attacks against the DPRK.
Washington and Seoul have repeatedly said their exercises are defensive. However, officials in the U.S., South Korea and Japan fear that North Korea may soon attempt its first nuclear test in five years.
