North Korea thus responds to the joint maneuvers last Friday in the Sea of Japan
The Japanese Ministry of Defense has warned this Saturday morning that North Korea has launched two new ballistic missiles short-range to the Sea of Japan response to the maritime exercise carried out jointly by Seoul, Washington and Tokyo during Friday. At 06:47 and 07:01 (local time), Pyongyang launched two ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan, outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone, 370 kilometers from the coast, according to the country’s Coast Guard. This is North Korea’s third launch so far this week, at a time when South Korea, Japan and the United States are conducting a joint maritime exercise in the waters of the Sea of Japan, also known as the Sea of Japan. This, in response to the missiles launched by North Korea in the last five days.
The authorities consider this to be a sign of protest by Pyongyang in the face of the maneuvers in Washington and Seoul, as well as a clear show of force in the face of the visit of the US Vice President, Kamala Harris, to the inter-Korean Demilitarization Zone. However, South Korea and the United States, together with Japan, thus seek to demonstrate the strength of their alliance and guarantee their “willingness to launch a forceful response” to North Korea’s “provocations”, while trying to improve its operating capacity.
The three countries last held such trilateral maritime exercises in April 2017. The training focuses on detect, identify and track North Korean submarines equipped with capabilities to launch ballistic missiles from the sea, as explained by the South Korean Ministry of Defense and reported by the Yonhap news agency.
possible nuclear test
South Korean intelligence has warned that North Korea plans to conduct a nuclear test between October 16 and November 7 in Punggye Ri, where it has a tunnel and facilities prepared for this type of test. The National Intelligence Service has indicated that the chosen date would be between the National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party and the so-called US ‘midterm’, the mid-term elections held in the North American country. In this sense, the authorities have terminated the works in the third Punggye Ri tunnel, where North Korea conducts its nuclear tests.