Seoul: North Korea fires missiles 2 days after ICBM test

Seoul, South Korea — North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles off its east coast on Monday, the South Korean military said, two days after the North resumed testing activities with an intercontinental ballistic missile launch.

South Korea detected the two launches from a western coastal town just north of North Korea’s capital Pyongyang on Monday morning, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.

He said South Korea has strengthened its monitoring posture and remains ready in close coordination with the United States.

The Japanese Coast Guard also issued warnings of what they called possible ballistic missile launches by North Korea.

The Coast Guard, citing Department of Defense information, said the first missile is believed to have already landed in the water. Kyodo News said he landed outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone.

Also on Monday morning, Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, issued a statement warning against demonstrations of arms over what she called US deployments of strategic military assets in the region. Korean peninsula. She called the United States “the worst maniacs”.

“The frequency of using the Pacific as a firing range depends on the action character of US forces,” Kim Yo Jong said in a statement carried by state media. “We are well aware of the movement of US forces’ strategic strike assets that have recently become rapid around the Korean Peninsula.”

She did not give details, but was able to refer to the U.S. flyby of the B-1B supersonic long-range bombers on Sunday for separate training with South Korea and Japan.

The B-1B’s deployment came in response to North Korea’s launch of the Hwasong-15 ICBM off its east coast on Saturday in the country’s first missile test since Jan. 1.

North Korean state media said on Sunday that the ICBM test was intended to further boost its “lethal” nuclear attack capability and verify the weapon’s reliability and the combat readiness of the country’s nuclear force. In his earlier statement on Sunday, Kim Yo Jong threatened to take strong additional measures regarding the upcoming military exercises between the United States and South Korea.

North Korea has strongly criticized regular military drills between South Korea and the United States as a rehearsal for an invasion, although allies say their drills are defensive in nature.