North Korea test-launches 2 ballistic missiles after new US-South Korea-Japan exercise

The first missile was said to have flown 600 kilometers (370 miles) and the second missile 120 kilometers (75 miles), but it was not said where they landed. North Korea typically fires missiles toward its eastern waters, but the second missile’s flight distance was too short to reach those waters.

Joint Chiefs of Staff spokesman Lee Sung Joon later told a briefing that the second missile may have experienced an abnormal flight during the first phase of its flight. He said that if the missile had exploded, debris would likely have been scattered across the ground, though no damage was immediately reported. Lee said additional analysis of the second missile launch was underway.

South Korean media, citing unidentified South Korean military sources, reported that it was highly likely that the second missile had crashed in the North’s interior. According to reports, the first missile landed in the waters off the eastern northern city of Chongjin.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff condemned the North’s launches as a provocation that poses a serious threat to peace on the Korean Peninsula. It said South Korea maintains a strong willingness to repel any provocation by North Korea in cooperation with the military alliance with the United States.

The launches came two days after South Korea, the US and Japan ended their new multi-domain trilateral exercises in the region. In recent years, the three countries have expanded their trilateral security partnership to better counter North Korea’s evolving nuclear threats and China’s increasing assertiveness in the region.

The “Freedom Edge” exercise was intended to enhance the sophistication of previous exercises with simultaneous air and naval exercises aimed at improving joint ballistic missile defense, anti-submarine warfare, surveillance and other skills and capabilities. The three-day exercise featured a U.S. aircraft carrier and destroyers, fighter jets and helicopters from the three countries.

On Sunday, North Korea’s Foreign Ministry issued a lengthy statement strongly condemning the “Freedom Edge” exercise and calling the U.S.-South Korea-Japan partnership an Asian version of NATO. It said the exercise openly destroyed the security situation on the Korean Peninsula and signaled a U.S. intention to besiege China and pressure Russia.

The statement said North Korea “will vigorously defend the sovereignty, security and interests of the state and peace in the region through offensive and overwhelming countermeasures.”

Monday’s launches were the North’s first weapons launches in five days. On Wednesday, North Korea launched what it called a multiwarhead missile in the first known test of a developmental weapon intended to defeat U.S. and South Korean missile defenses. North Korea said the launch was successful, but South Korea dismissed North Korea’s claim as a hoax to cover up a failed launch.

In recent weeks, North Korea has flown numerous balloons carrying trash into South Korea, in what it describes as a response to South Korean activists sending political leaflets on their own balloons. Last month, North Korea and Russia also signed an agreement pledging mutual defense assistance if either was attacked, a major defense pact that has raised concerns that it could embolden Kim to launch more provocations against South Korea.

Meanwhile, North Korea opened a key ruling party meeting on Friday to determine what it called “important, immediate issues” related to efforts to further strengthen Korean-style socialism. Observers said the meeting continued on Monday.