SEOUL, Nov 17 North Korea launched a ballistic missile on Thursday, warning of “fiercer military reactions”
United States plans to increase its security presence in the region alongside its allies, saying Washington is making a “gamble it will regret.”
This year, North Korea has performed a record number of such tests and fired hundreds of artillery shells into the sea as South Korea and the United States staged maneuvers, some of which included Japan.
The ballistic missile was fired from the North’s east coast city of Wonsan at 10:48 a.m. (0248 GMT), traveling 240 kilometers (150 miles) to an altitude of 47 kilometers at Mach 4.
The second launch came less than two hours after North Korea’s foreign minister, Choe Son Hui, criticized a trilateral meeting of the US, South Korea, and Japan on Sunday. During this, the leaders condemned Pyongyang’s missile tests and offered increased security cooperation.
Joe Biden underlined the commitment to strengthening long-term stability and defending the two Asian allies with a “full range of skills,” including nuclear weapons.
Choe claimed as per the KCNA news agency that, the three nations’ “war preparations for escalation” failed to rein in the North and would instead bring them a “keen, actual, and unavoidable danger.” The more focused the US is on a “reinforced promise of prolonged deterrence” to its allies, and the more aggressive and deceptive military exercises they conduct… “The more severe the DPRK military response,”
She referred to her nation by its initials, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. “The US will be fully aware that it is gambling, which it will inevitably regret,” Choe added.
Following the North’s latest launch, the South Korean and US forces conducted missile defense maneuvers, according to Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, which harshly condemned it. “We call for an immediate cessation of North Korea’s series of ballistic missile tests, which are a grave provocation endangering peace and stability,” the joint chiefs said in a statement.
The US has maintained since May that North Korea is planning its first nuclear test since 2017, although the time is unknown.
Read More: North Korea Launches an ICBM, Warning the United States Against “Dangerous” Decisions
Washington, Seoul, and Tokyo guaranteed in a joint statement that Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons shall meet with a firm response. Choe claimed the North’s military exercises are “legal and are just retaliations” to the US-led maneuvers.
South Korea’s Unification Minister Kwon Young-se, who oversees intra-Korea relations, stated that the North might postpone its nuclear test for a while due to China’s domestic political timetable. “North Korea has also achieved some political repercussions by enacting its nuclear policy in August, so it may refrain itself from further nuclear test,” Kwon told Yonhap news agency on Thursday.
