The South Korean army announced that North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles off its east coast today, Tuesday, in conjunction with the largest US-South Korean military exercises in 5 years.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said the two missiles were launched at around 07:40 am local time (22:40 GMT Monday) from South Hwanghae Province, near the country's west coast, and covered a distance of about 620 km.

She added that the South Korean army is on high alert, in close coordination with the United States, and considered that the repeated firing of its northern neighbor, missiles, is "a provocative act that threatens peace and security in the region."

The statement confirmed that South Korea will conduct joint exercises with the United States as planned, and will maintain readiness based on overwhelming capabilities, according to the expression of the statement.

For his part, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said that Japan is collecting information about the projectile and that it has not yet confirmed any damage in the country as a result of the launch.

The Chief Cabinet Secretary of Japan, Hirokazu Matsuno, said that it had not yet been confirmed that the missiles had entered Japan's territories or exclusive economic zones.

For its part, the US Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement, "North Korea launched an unidentified ballistic missile towards the East Sea," referring to an area of ​​water also known as the Sea of ​​Japan.

It added that North Korea's two ballistic missile launches did not pose a direct threat to the forces or territory of the United States or its allies, but said the North's illegal weapons programs had a destabilizing effect.


exercises and provocations

Washington and Seoul have stepped up defense cooperation in the face of growing military and nuclear threats from Pyongyang, which has conducted increasingly provocative tests of banned weapons.

This is Pyongyang's second missile test within 3 days, as it launched what it called two strategic cruise missiles from a submarine, in an operation that appears to be a response to the ongoing US-South Korean military maneuvers, which are the largest in 5 years.

The launch of the two missiles also comes less than a week after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered the army to intensify its training to deter and respond to a "real war" if necessary.

On Monday, South Korea and the United States began joint "Freedom Shield" exercises that focus on the "changing security environment" due to North Korea's double aggressiveness.

The South Korean military said that these exercises "include wartime exercises to repel possible North Korean attacks and to carry out a stabilization campaign in the North."

Exercises of this kind anger Pyongyang, which it considers a simulation of an invasion of its territory, and regularly threatens to take "crushing" action in response.