North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles into its eastern sea on early Wednesday in what appeared to be a statement of defiance as the United States deploys a nuclear-armed submarine to South Korea for the first time in decades.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said that from 3.30 to 3.46 am North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles from an area near capital Pyongyang that flew about 550 km before landing in waters east of the Korean Peninsula.
Those flight details were similar to the assessment of the Japanese military, which said the missiles landed outside of Japan’s exclusive economic zone and that there were no immediate reports of damage from ships or aircraft in affected areas.
The flight distance of the North Korean missiles roughly matched the distance between Pyongyang and the South Korean port city of Busan, where the USS Kentucky arrived Tuesday afternoon in the first visit by a US nuclear-armed submarine to South Korea since the 1980s.
Japanese Defence Minister Yasukazu Hamada told reporters that the North Korean missiles travelled on a low trajectory, with their maximum altitude reaching about 50 kilometers, and possibly demonstrated “irregular maneuver” in flight.
This marked the North’s first ballistic activity since July 12, when it flight-tested a new solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile.
Tensions have risen in the region in recent months as the pace of both North Korean weapons tests and US-South Korea joint military drills have increased.
