North Korea fires short-range ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan

Asia-Pacific, News October 29, 2022 , by IRIA No Comments

North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles toward the Sea of Japan on October 28, 2022. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff and national media outlets confirmed the missile launch.

According to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), the missile launch was detected from the Tongchon area in North Korea’s Kangwon province near the northeastern shores of the Sea of Japan.

The missiles flew for about 230 kilometers with an altitude of about 24 kilometers and flew at Mach 5 speeds before falling into the waters. The two missiles were launched in the same direction between 11:59 A.M. and 12:18 P.M, local time.

The statement released by the South Korean JCS said that North Korea’s missile test was a “serious act of provocation” that threatened the peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula. The statement further said that such acts are a clear violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions that bans North Korea from launching ballistic missiles.

South Korean JCS also emphasized that it was working closely with the United States to monitor North Korean movements around Korean Peninsula.

The U.S. military also reacted to the missile launch and said it is completely aware of North Korea’s regional activities. U.S. military’s Indo-Pacific command released a statement regarding the missile launch stating that it did not “pose an immediate threat to US personnel or territory, or to our allies.”

*^{North Korean leader Kim Jong-un inspecting a ballistic missile at an undisclosed location on May 14, 2017. (Image Credit: KCNA/AFP)}*

The Tongchong launch site is located about 60 kilometers from the North Korean border with South Korea. This makes the recent missile launch the closest to South Korea as compared to any other launch that North Korea has carried out before.

The current missile launch marks for 28th missile test for North Korea this year. It also comes at a time when South Korea is wrapping up its Hoguk military drills, a joint military operational drill between the South Korean navy, marine corps, and air force. Hoguk is the latest installment to the series of South Korean military drills amid rising tension in the region.

Earlier, the South Korean military conducted maritime and aerial defense exercises with the U.S. military in order to boost the ability to respond to North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats.

Tensions in the Korean Peninsula have been rising since the U.S. Navy brought a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, USS Ronald Reagan, to South Korea along with its strike group for the first time since 2018. The carrier participated in the naval drills and is now docked at a naval base in South Korea’s southern port city of Busan.