(Seoul) North Korea fired around ten short-range ballistic missiles towards the Sea of Japan on Thursday morning, Seoul announced, a few hours after sending balloons filled with rubbish towards the South.
The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said it had detected the launch of “what is suspected to be around ten short-range ballistic missiles” fired towards the waters east of the Korean peninsula.
The projectiles traveled some 350 kilometers and their characteristics are being examined by South Korea, the United States and Japan, according to the same source.
This shot is a “provocation which seriously threatens peace and stability on the Korean peninsula”, believes the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The Japanese Coast Guard and the Japanese Prime Minister’s Office confirmed the launch, adding that they were gathering more information.
On Wednesday, Pyongyang sent balloons filled with rubbish to the South, a “low-grade” action, the South Korean army judged.
“We tried something they have always done, but I don’t understand why they are making such a fuss as if they were victims of a hail of bullets,” said Kim Yo Jong, the sister of leader Kim Jong -one and one of the main spokespersons of the power, in a press release published by the North Korean press agency KNCA.
Since the Korean War (1950-1953) ended in an armistice and not a peace treaty, North and South remain technically at war and are separated by a heavily fortified border including the demilitarized zone (DMZ).
South Korean activists sometimes release balloons carrying propaganda leaflets against North Korean power and money intended for people living north of the border, which has long aroused the ire of Pyongyang, which has also to sending balloons towards his neighbor.
Meeting at the UN
The ballistic missile launch came days after Pyongyang’s failed spy satellite launch.
The rocket “exploded during the first phase of the flight and failed,” the North Korean Aerospace Administration said Monday, according to state media.
Japanese public broadcaster NHK broadcast footage of what appeared to be a flaming projectile in the night sky, which then erupted into a ball of flames.
The UN Security Council is due to meet on Friday to discuss this satellite launch attempt, condemned by Seoul, Tokyo and even Washington.
Putting a reconnaissance vehicle into orbit has long been a priority for Kim Jong-un’s regime, which claimed to have achieved it in November, after two unsuccessful attempts in 2023.
Experts say spy satellites could improve Pyongyang’s intelligence-gathering capabilities, particularly against its arch-rival South Korea, and provide crucial data in the event of a military conflict.
The missile launches observed Thursday morning also come after the dissolution of the United Nations sanctions monitoring system against North Korea and its nuclear program, due to a veto by Russia in the UN Security Council concerning a draft resolution which aimed to extend by one year the mandate of the committee of experts responsible for monitoring these sanctions.