North Korea has fired a three missiles, including one believed to have long-range capabilities, into the sea off its east coast, the South Korean military has said, a day after Joe Biden ended his first to Asia as US president, The Guardian informs.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement the three missiles on Wednesday were fired from the Sunan area of the capital, Pyongyang, and flew toward waters off the North’s eastern coast between 6am and 7am. Yoon’s office said he and officials had described the missile launches as a “grave provocation that violates UN security council resolutions, raises tensions on the Korean peninsula and in north-east Asia and threatens international peace, and strongly condemned them”.
In response South Korea’s military had mobilized around 30 F-15K fighter planes in response to the launches.
Japanese officials said the missiles appeared to have landed outside the country’s exclusive economic zone, adding that there had been and no reports of damage to ships or aircraft so far.
Since the beginning of this year alone, the North Korea has launched 17 missiles, including intercontinental ballistic missiles. The latest test came several days after Biden visited South Korea and just hours after his return to Washington from Japan.
US National Security Advisor to President, Jake Sullivan, told reporters on his way to South Korea that U.S. cooperation with South Korea and Japan "will only be strengthened amid further provocations" by North Korea. The United States has not ruled out that Pyongyang will conduct new weapons tests at a time when Biden is in the region.