The South Korean military on Thursday said that North Korea fired two ballistic missiles off its east coast — for the first time after two months — which landed at Japan’s EEZ, AFP reported.
The two short-range ballistic missiles were launched following a warning issued by Pyongyang, saying that it would respond in an “inevitable” way to military drills jointly staged by South Korea and the United States.
The two nations, in their response to the increasing threats from the nuclear-armed North, are jointly carrying out large-scale live-fire “annihilation” exercises.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said it detected the “two short-range ballistic missiles from the Sunan area into the East Sea between 19:25 and 19:37 (1025 to 1037 GMT).”
“We have stepped up monitoring in case of further provocations and are maintaining readiness in close coordination with the United States,” it said, terming the launches as a “grave provocation” violating UN sanctions.
The missile launches were also confirmed by Tokyo, saying that they had landed in waters within Japan’s exclusive economic zone.