The South Korean army announced that North Korea launched today, Saturday, 3 ballistic missiles towards the East Sea (Sea of ​​Japan), and the Japanese Coast Guard indicated that a missile believed to be North Korean fell in Japanese territorial waters. This comes at the end of a year that witnessed an unprecedented series of experiments. Pyongyang's missile strikes amid escalating tensions on the Korean peninsula.

The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said that the three medium-range ballistic missiles were launched at 8:00 am local time (23:00 pm Friday GMT) from Hawangi Province, south of the capital, Pyongyang.

In the context, Kyodo quoted the Japanese Ministry of Defense as saying that the three North Korean missiles were at an altitude of 100 kilometers and covered an area of ​​about 350 square kilometers.

According to the South Korean Yonhap News Agency, North Korea, without counting the missile launches today, Saturday, launched about 70 ballistic missiles this year, including 8 intercontinental missiles.

The new missile launch coincides with a major annual meeting of the ruling Communist Workers' Party at which leader Kim Jong Un and other senior officials present their political goals for 2023 in key areas such as diplomacy, security and the economy.

The missile launch came after South Korea successfully conducted a test flight of a solid-fuel space launch vehicle the day before, as part of efforts to boost its space surveillance and surveillance capabilities.

This new launch also comes 5 days after the incursion of 5 North Korean drones into South Korean airspace, one of which flew close to the capital, Seoul.

However, despite a 5-hour operation, the army failed to shoot down the North Korean drones, which sparked widespread criticism of this response.

South Korean President Yoon Sok-yul described the air incursion, the first in five years, as "unbearable," promising to make North Korea understand that "provocations will always have dire consequences" for it.

On Thursday, the South Korean army conducted exercises to strengthen its anti-drone defense, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

On December 23, North Korea launched two short-range ballistic missiles into the East Sea, less than a week after launching two other medium-range missiles.