"Southern" conducts exercises with bombs.. and Japan launches military maneuvers with America

North Korea launches an intercontinental ballistic missile, which lands off Japan

Koreans watch a television report in Seoul about the North's ballistic missile launch.

EPA

North Korea launched an intercontinental ballistic missile yesterday, and Japanese officials said its range was sufficient to reach the mainland United States, and it landed only 200 km from the coast of Japan.

In response, the South Korean Air Force conducted exercises to launch laser-guided bomb attacks to hit mock targets for transport units and missile launchers, while Japan and the United States conducted joint military exercises in the airspace over the Sea of ​​Japan.

In detail, the missile test, which was reported by officials in South Korea and Japan, came a day after North Korea launched a smaller missile, and warned of "stronger military responses" to the United States' strengthening of its security presence in the region.

The Japanese government said in a statement that Prime Minister Fumio Kishida warned of North Korea launching more missiles and the possibility of a nuclear test.

Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada told reporters that the altitude indicated the missile was fired from a high angle.

He said that depending on the weight of the warhead to be placed on the missile, the weapon's range exceeds 15,000 kilometers (9,320 miles), "in which case it could cover the entire US mainland."

Yesterday, the Japanese Minister of Defense told reporters that the missile is capable of flying a distance of up to 15,000 km, while Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said that it flew at an altitude of about 6,000 km with a range of 1,000 km, before it fell into the sea about 1,000 km away. 200 km west of Oshima Island - Oshima in Hokkaido.

"The ballistic missile launched by North Korea appears to have fallen in our exclusive economic zone in western Hokkaido," Kishida said, describing this missile launch as "totally unacceptable," and noting that there were no reports of damage to any ships or aircraft.

Kishida added, "We have expressed our protest strongly to North Korea... Pyongyang is repeating provocative actions at an unprecedented pace.

We strongly reiterate that this is totally unacceptable.

He continued, "Japan, the United States and South Korea must coordinate closely to work towards the complete denuclearization of North Korea."

Hamada called the launch "a reckless act that threatens Japan, as well as the region and the international community."

He said Japan will continue to closely cooperate with the United States, South Korea and other countries to coordinate a joint response to North Korea's provocations.

South Korean President Yoon Sok-yol condemned the launch, and called for enhanced defense readiness and security cooperation with the United States and Japan.

For its part, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff described the launch as a "serious provocation and serious threat" to undermine international and regional peace and security.

She said South Korea was ready to give "a crushing response to any North Korean provocation."

In response to North Korea's launch of an ICBM, the South Korean Air Force conducted laser-guided bomb attacks to hit mock targets of transport units and missile launchers.

F-35A stealth jets have been sent to participate in the exercises, Bloomberg News reported yesterday.

South Korean F-35A and American F-16s conducted joint combat strike exercises.

For its part, Japan and the United States conducted joint military exercises in the airspace over the Sea of ​​Japan, according to a statement by the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Tokyo.

"The Japanese Self-Defense Forces and the US Armed Forces conducted a bilateral exercise... in light of the increasingly intense security environment around Japan, following the intercontinental ballistic missile launch by North Korea," the statement, distributed by the Japanese Ministry of Defense, said.

The United States "strongly condemned" the missile launch, saying it "constitutes a flagrant violation of many UN Security Council resolutions and unnecessarily raises tension and risks destabilizing the security situation in the region."

In Bangkok, US Vice President Kamala Harris met with the leaders of Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and Canada.

"On behalf of the United States, I reaffirm our unwavering commitment to our alliances in the Indo-Pacific region," she said.

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