The military of South Korea claimed that North Korean missiles on Wednesday, had for the first time ever come within striking distance of South Korean waters.
According to Yonhap News Agency, South Korea’s military condemned North Korea’s most recent missile launch, calling it the first into a region close to the South’s territorial waters since the peninsula was divided more than seven decades ago, as being “intolerable.” conduct.
“The North Korean missile launch is very unusual and unacceptable as it fell close to South Korean territorial waters, south of the maritime border,” said Kang Shin-chul, Director of Operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Seoul’s military reported that North Korea fired at least 10 different types of missiles shortly after it was confirmed that a ballistic missile had, for the first time, landed near to South Korean waters.
According to the South’s military, the North launched at least three short-range ballistic missiles (SRBMs) earlier in the day into the East Sea, one of which flew past its de facto maritime border with South Korea, as reported by News Agency.
The launches took place only a few hours after Pyongyang urged South Korea and the United States to stop conducting extensive military drills, claiming that such “military rashness and aggression can no longer be tolerated.”
The missile firing from a location in or near the eastern coastal city of Wonsan in the North was discovered at about 8:51 a.m., according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).
“North Korea’s missile launch, which marks the first time since the division of the peninsula that a missile has landed near our territorial waters south of the Northern Limit Line, is very rare and intolerable,” the JCS said in a press release.
“Our military vowed to respond firmly to this (provocation),” it added.
As a result of repeated missile launches by Kim-led North Korea, including one this month that flew over neighbouring Japan, tensions on the Korean peninsula are rising. In response, bombing practise has been conducted by the US and its allies.