North Korea fired another ballistic missile on Sunday. The missile came down in the Sea of Japan, east of the Korean Peninsula. The South Korean news agency Yonhap reports this based on sources from the South Korean military.
North Korea already fired two cruise missiles from a submarine last weekend and also launched missiles on Tuesday and Thursday, including a Hwasong-17. As far as is known, this is the largest intercontinental ballistic missile in the country’s possession.
According to Pyongyang, the missile was fired during an exercise as a “hard response” to the military exercises that South Korea and the US are currently conducting. On Friday, North Korea called the military maneuvers by the US and South Korea “provocative and aggressive”. The North Korean regime of leader Kim Jong-un has repeatedly accused the South Koreans and the Americans of organizing exercises in preparation for an attack. Washington and Seoul deny that.
The exercises, called Freedom Shield, are the largest joint military exercises between the two countries in five years. Its focus is on strengthening South Korean defenses against North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats, the allies said.
The launch of the Hwasong-17 also came ahead of summit talks between South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
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