Pyongyang responds to deployment of US nuclear-powered aircraft carrier ‘US Ronald Reagan’
North Korea launched this Wednesday two new ballistic missiles into the sea Japan, also known as the East Sea, in response to the deployment of the US nuclear-powered aircraft carrier ‘U.S. Ronald Reagan’ just two days after launching an intermediate-range one that flew over Japanese territory, significantly increasing tension in the region. “The South Korean Army detected two short-range ballistic missiles fired from the Samseok area in Pyongyang, North Korea, fired into the East Sea at around 0601 and 0623 (2101 and 2123 GMT on Wednesday),” the State reported. South Korean Joint Chiefs (JCS) in a statement.
Today’s is the sixth North Korean launch in the last ten days and comes after the day before Seoul and Washington announced the return to waters off the Korean peninsula of the US nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan in response to the intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) that Pyongyang fired on Tuesday.
In fact, Pyongyang today condemned the return of ‘Ronald Reagan’, which last week precisely carried out exercises in the area with the South Korean and Japanese navy, in a brief statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (official name of North Korea) is watching how the US poses a serious threat to the stability of the Korean peninsula and its environs by redeploying its aircraft carrier and strike group in waters off the peninsula. of Korea,” the text explains. The statement even acknowledges that the launch of the IRBM last Tuesday was a response to the Ronald Reagan maneuvers last week and criticizes the fact that “the United States and some of its satellites” are now seeking sanctions from the UN Security Council for their “just response measures” to the “escalation of tension” caused by the aircraft carrier exercises.
For its part, the Japanese government believes that the missiles fired today traveled around 800 kilometers with a peak of about 50 and fell outside its exclusive economic zone (EEZ). The IRBM launched on Tuesday was North Korea’s longest-distance projectile ever, traveling some 4,500 kilometers after flying over northern Japan and landing in the Pacific Ocean.
These new launches by the northern neighbor also coincide with a meeting in the UN Security Council in which no text of condemnation against Pyongyang is expected due to the lack of consensus among the member states, according to DPA.
The Armed forces of South Korea and the United States jointly launched four ballistic missiles on Tuesday. in the direction of the Sea of Japan in response to the missile that North Korea launched on Tuesday over Japanese territory.
In turn, North Korea, which has been completely isolated from the outside since the start of the pandemic and approved a weapons modernization plan in 2021, has been preparing for months to carry out a new nuclear test, according to satellites.