Seoul: North Korea test-fired a salvo of eight short-range ballistic missiles toward the sea on Sunday, South Korea's military said, extending a provocative streak in weapons demonstrations this year that U.S. and South Korean officials say may culminate with a nuclear test explosion.
Possibly setting a single-day record for North Korean ballistic launches, the missiles were fired in succession over 35 minutes from the Sunan area near the capital, Pyongyang, according to South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff.
South Korea's military didn't immediately say how far the missiles flew but noted it has heightened its monitoring in case the North fires more missiles.
The launches came a day after the U.S. aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan concluded a three-day naval drill with South Korea in the Philippine Sea, apparently their first joint drill involving a carrier since November 2017, as the countries move to upgrade their defense exercises in the face of growing North Korean threats.
The office of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said his national security adviser, Kim Sung-han, will convene a National Security Council meeting to discuss the launches. Japanese Prime Minster Fumio Kishida called for maximum efforts to gather information about the launches and to ensure the safety of aircraft and vessels, although there were no immediate reports of damages.
The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said it was aware of North Korea's multiple ballistic missile launches but assessed that the event doesn't pose an immediate threat to U.S. personnel or territory, or to our allies.
The launches were North Korea's 18th round of missile tests in 2022 alone a streak that has included the country's first demonstrations of intercontinental ballistic missiles in nearly five years as it continues to exploit a favourable environment to push forward weapons development with the U.N. Security Council divided over Russia's war on
Ukraine.
Experts say North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's brinkmanship is aimed at forcing the United States to accept the idea of the North as a nuclear power and negotiating economic and security concessions from a position of strength.
South Korean and U.S. officials say there are signs that North Korea is also pressing ahead with preparations at its nuclear testing ground in the northeastern town
of Punggye-ri.