For the first time in two months, North Korea launched a ballistic missile on Monday March 18, South Korean media reported, citing the Seoul army.

"North Korea fired an unspecified ballistic missile towards the East Sea", also known as the Sea of ​​Japan, Yonhap news agency reported, citing the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff, without providing further information about the launch.

Japan also confirmed the shot.

According to its coast guard, the projectile appears to have fallen.

Informed, the United States condemned this shooting.

“These launches, like previous ballistic missile launches in recent years, are in violation of multiple UN Security Council resolutions,” a State Department spokesperson said, emphasizing that these launches “threaten " North Korea's neighbors and "undermine regional security."

This ballistic missile launch is the second of its kind carried out by Pyongyang in 2024, after that, on January 14, of a machine equipped with a hypersonic warhead.

It comes days after the end of joint US-South Korean military exercises.

See alsoIs Kim Jong-Un preparing for war?

The North Korean leader continues the provocations

This launch comes as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken landed in South Korea on Sunday afternoon to participate in the third Democracy Summit, an initiative of US President Joe Biden, and which Seoul is hosting from Monday to Wednesday.

Government officials, NGOs and members of civil society are present.

The American Secretary of State must also take advantage of his trip to discuss with his South Korean counterpart Cho Tae-yul ways to strengthen the alliance between Washington and Seoul, as the two countries seek to improve their policy of " extended deterrence" facing the North.

Seoul designated as Pyongyang's "main enemy"

Seoul and Washington a few days ago concluded their annual large-scale "Freedom Shield" exercises, including missile interception and air assaults.

The number of troops participating has been doubled compared to 2023.

Pyongyang warned that the United States and South Korea would pay a "high price" for the maneuvers before announcing that Kim Jong-un had overseen a large-scale artillery exercise that it said included border units. who brought the enemy's capital within their reach.

Since the start of the year, Pyongyang has designated Seoul as its "main enemy", closed agencies dedicated to reunification and inter-Korean dialogue and threatened to go to war for any violation of its territory "even if only of 0.001 millimeter".

With AFP

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