North Korea launched two ballistic missiles Thursday to protest military drills by South Korea and the United States, according to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff.
North Korea launched the pair of short-range missiles toward the sea Thursday, South Korea said. The missiles traveled about 480 miles from North Korea’s capital region before landing in the sea between Japan and the Korean Peninsula.
The launch came hours after South Korea and the U.S. concluded their fifth round of military drills near the border on Thursday, a move that the North Korea military called “provocative and irresponsible” ahead of the missile launch.
“Our army strongly denounces the provocative and irresponsible moves of the puppet military authorities escalating the military tension in the region despite its repeated warnings, and warns them solemnly,” a spokesperson for the North Korean Defense Ministry said in a statement published by North Korea state media.
“Our armed forces will fully counter any form of demonstrative moves and provocation of the enemies,” the statement added.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida also condemned the missile launch by North Korea, Media reported.
“The latest missile launch is a violation of Security Council resolutions and an escalation of provocations against the international community as a whole. We lodged a strong protest against North Korea,” he told reporters.
This launch comes as national security adviser Jake Sullivan meets with advisers from South Korea and Japan in Tokyo Thursday, where they discussed coordination tactics in the East China Sea and the South China Sea, the White House said.
This is the first launch by North Korea since it failed to launch a spy satellite into orbit last month. North Korea announced that its plans to launch the spy satellite was necessary due to the United States “reckless” military exercises with South Korea.
The Hill has reached out to the State Department and the National Security Council for comment.