Seoul, South Korea. North Korea fired multiple suspected short-range ballistic missiles into its eastern waters on Monday, South Korea’s military said, the latest in a recent series of weapons launches by the North.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement that it detected the launches from North Korea’s capital region, but did not provide further details, such as how far the weapons flew. He said South Korea has strengthened its vigilance posture and maintains firm preparedness in close coordination with the United States and Japan.
Japan also confirmed the launches, and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s office instructed officials to use maximum efforts to gather information and ensure the safety of planes and ships, according to a statement posted on X, formerly Twitter.
In recent months, North Korea has maintained an accelerated pace of weapons testing as it continues to expand its military capabilities amid deadlocked diplomacy with the United States and South Korea.
North Korea announced Saturday that it tested a “super-large” cruise missile warhead and a new anti-aircraft missile in a western coastal area on Friday. In early April, North Korea also test-launched what it called an intermediate-range solid-fuel missile with hypersonic warhead capability, a weapon that experts say is intended to strike remote enemy targets in the U.S. territory of Guam. in the Pacific and beyond.
In response to evolving nuclear threats from North Korea, the United States and South Korea have been strengthening their bilateral and trilateral military exercises with Japan.
On Monday, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Kim Myung-soo met with US Space Command Commander Stephen N., pending talks on how to counter threats from North Korea. according to the South Korean military.
Some experts previously said North Korea could launch major provocations, such as launching a banned satellite, this month to mark key state anniversaries: the April 15 birthday of state founder Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong’s late grandfather. A, and the anniversary of the founding of April 25. a predecessor of the Northern army.
South Korea’s military said Monday that it has detected evidence that North Korea is preparing to launch its second spy satellite, but there are no signs that a launch is imminent.