Seoul: North Korea launches 3 ballistic missiles toward sea
The Hindu
Seoul North Korea launched three ballistic missiles toward the sea on May 25, South Korea’s milita
North Korea launched three ballistic missiles toward the sea on May 25, South Korea’s military said, the Norths’ first weapons firings in about two weeks as the country makes a much-disputed claim that its first domestic COVID-19 outbreak is weakening.
The latest launches also came after the leaders of South Korea and the United States agreed to consider expanded military exercises to deter North Korean nuclear threats during President Joe Biden’s visit to Seoul last weekend.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement that all three missiles were fired toward waters off North Korea’s eastern coast one after another between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m. on Wednesday.
It said South Korea has subsequently boosted its surveillance posture and maintains a military readiness in close coordination with the United States. South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol separately called a National Security Council meeting to discuss the North’s launches, his office said.
The launches were North Korea’s 17th round of missile firings this year. Experts have said North Korea’s testing is aimed at modernising its weapons arsenal and at applying pressure on its rivals amid long-dormant nuclear diplomacy.
North Korea’s unusual pace in weapons tests this year included its first test of an intercontinental ballistic missile since 2017 in March. U.S. and South Korean intelligence officials have that North Korea could soon conduct its first nuclear test in nearly five years as well.
While visiting South Korea, Mr. Biden brushed aside questions about any possible provocation by North Korea during his trip, saying, “We are prepared for anything North Korea does.” Asked if he had a message for the North’s leader, Kim Jong-un, Mr. Biden offered a clipped response: “Hello. Period.”
Several U.S. campuses, taking inspiration from the protests in Columbia, have peacefully escalated their protests, which have also faced repression from respective university administrations. The protests are an escalation of the demonstrations going on in U.S. campuses ever since the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel and Israel’s subsequent bombardment of the Gaza Strip.