South Korea fires missile following launches by Pyongyang

Seoul says the show of force was a response to North Korea’s testing of a Hwasongpho-19 ICBM last week

South Korea launched a Hyunmoo-II ballistic missile on Thursday, the country’s media has reported, citing the military. Seoul said its latest live-fire exercise was a warning against any potential “provocation” by the North.

The short-range ballistic missile hit a target in the Yellow Sea, which represented a North Korean launch pad in the exercise, Yonhap news agency reported on Friday, quoting South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff.

“Our military demonstrated its strong resolve to respond to any North Korean provocation as well as the capabilities and posture for precision strikes,” military officials in Seoul stated, according to the media outlet.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff also promised an “overwhelming” response to any aggressive action by the neighboring state. Seoul’s military added that, together with the US, it would continue to closely monitor military activities in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

Thursday’s launch came days after North Korea fired multiple short-range ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan (known in the Koreas as the East Sea).

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Last Thursday, Pyongyang also test-fired a Hwasongpho-19 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in a signal to any potential aggressors, according to its leader Kim Jong-un, who observed the launch.

According to the DPRK’s state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), last week’s launch “updated the recent records of the strategic missile capability of the DPRK.”

While Pyongyang regularly conducts missile tests, ICBM launches are relatively rare, with the previous one taking place last December.

Commenting on the Hwasongpho-19 launch during a press conference last Thursday, Japan’s chief cabinet secretary, Yoshimasa Hayashi, estimated that “depending on the weight of the warhead, the [missile’s] range could exceed 15,000km,” meaning that it could reach the US mainland.

In recent decades, the DPRK has been subjected to numerous UN Security Council resolutions, which condemn its missile program. In the wake of last week’s ICBM test, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called out a “clear violation” of those resolutions by Pyongyang.

Kim Yo-jong, a senior North Korean official and the sister of the country’s leader, criticized the UN chief, claiming that Guterres “has consistently kept quiet about the US and its allies’ anti-DPRK rhetoric and acts… [that have] become the main cause of the escalated military tension” on the Korean Peninsula. She accused the UN secretary-general of “taking issue only with the DPRK’s right to self-defense.”

North Korea has repeatedly denounced joint military drills by the US and South Korea, describing them as preparation for possible aggression. Relations between Seoul and Pyongyang have further soured over the past few months over accusations of garbage and propaganda leaflets being dropped over the border by drones and hot air balloons.

Last week, the EU and Japan sealed a new security and defense pact. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell hailed the agreement as a “historical and very timely step,” noting that the partnership represented the first of its kind between the EU and an Asia-Pacific state. According to the diplomat, its primary goal is to deepen cooperation on military equipment development as well as in terms of joint military exercises.