The South Korean Armed Forces describe the launch as “intolerable” and warn that they will respond “severely”
South Korea’s president calls on military for ‘swift action’ in response to North Korea
North Korea has launched at least ten missiles this Wednesday morning, one of which has fallen near the coast of the South Korean island of Ulleung, thus activating the air alert in part of the country, according to the South Korean Army.
The missiles launched by Pyongyang have activated the air attack warning system throughout the South Korean island when one of them has crossed the South Korean maritime border, which is why thousands of residents have been evacuated to basements, Yonhap agency has collected.
The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff has detailed that North Korea has fired three short-range ballistic missiles into the Sea of ??Japan (also known as the East Sea), as well as seven other missiles of different types.
“One of the missiles… headed towards Ulleung Island, near Dokdo, before falling into the international sea, prompting local authorities to issue an airstrike alert,” he detailed.
This is North Korea’s first ballistic missile launch in international waters near South Korea since the division of the peninsula, a development the South Korean military has called “intolerable.”
“Our Army will never be able to tolerate North Korea’s act of provocation and will respond severely in close cooperation with the United States,” the Joint Chiefs of Staff said, according to the aforementioned agency.
Although the South Korean Armed Forces have not yet determined the launch specifications such as the range, altitude and speed of the missiles, it has pointed out that they have been fired while carrying out large-scale joint air exercises with USA.
YOON CALLS FOR “SPEED ACTION” AGAINST PYONGYANG
The president of South Korea, Yoon Suk Yeol, has condemned the launch of the ten missiles by North Korea and has described the projectile that has fallen near the South Korean coast as a “de facto violation of the territory”.
For this reason, the South Korean leader has ordered the Army to take “rapid action” so that the North pays for “the provocations”, and has also ordered the military to be “prepared for additional provocations”, as he has asserted in an emergency meeting of the National Security Council after the launch and Yonhap has picked up.
Yoon has claimed that North Korea’s “provocations” with missiles violate the inter-Korean military agreement signed between the two countries on September 19 in order to prevent military clashes on the border.
This new launch by Pyongyang further escalates tensions in the region, after North Korea has launched several ballistic missiles in recent weeks in tests prohibited by UN Security Council resolutions, in response to military maneuvers. US-Koreans that it considers an invasion rehearsal.
The United States, as well as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), have shared evidence that North Korea is “likely” to carry out a nuclear missile test, the first since 2017.
