North Korea has launched two more short-range ballistic missiles from the Sunchon area, north of Pyongyang, in what is the third provocation of its kind in less than a week.
The South Korean Joint Staff Command announced the launch a few hours after the visit of the American Vice President,
Kamala Harris,
in the demilitarized zone (DMZ) that divides the two Koreas at the 38th parallel.
Harris, who stopped at the border village of Panmunjom, attacked North Korea calling it "a ferocious dictatorship", while the US aims for "a world free from its threats" linked to "its possession of illegal weapons".
North Korea has already launched a short-range ballistic missile on Sunday, while yesterday it tested two more, again towards the Sea of Japan, this time from Sunan, at the gates of the North Korean capital, confirming the many sites that can be used by the hermit state.
South Korea and the United States today concluded a high-profile naval exercise, the first in 5 years, which also involved the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Uss Ronald Reagan in the Sea of Japan, as they prepare for the anti-submarine maneuvers they will take. kicking off tomorrow with Tokyo's involvement through a cycle of operations that will be done together for the first time since 2017.
Washington, Seoul and Tokyo have stepped up security coordination amid concerns that Pyongyang may engage in other provocative acts, including a nuclear experiment that would be the seventh ever and the first since a self-imposed moratorium 5 years ago by North Korean leader Kim Jong- a.