SEOUL —
North Korea on Sunday fired an
unidentified ballistic missile into the East Sea, South Korea’s military said,
just days after a nuclear-powered US aircraft carrier arrived ahead of joint
drills.
اضافة اعلان
“North Korea fired an unidentified ballistic
missile,” Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said early Sunday, without giving any
further details.
The launch, part of a record-breaking blitz of
weapons tests this year by the North, also comes after reports indicated that
Pyongyang could be preparing to fire a submarine-launched ballistic missile.
Japan’s coast guard also confirmed a possible
ballistic missile launch, citing information from Tokyo’s defense ministry, and
warned ships to be aware.
“Vessels please be vigilant for new information and
if you spot any foreign objects, please don’t get closer to them but inform the
coast guard,” the coast guard said.
Japan’s public broadcaster NHK said the object
appeared to have fallen outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone.
On Friday, the nuclear-powered USS Ronald Reagan and
vessels from its strike group docked in the southern port city of Busan, part
of a push by Seoul and Washington to have more US strategic assets operating in
the region.
South Korea’s hawkish President
Yoon Suk-yeol, who
took office in May, has vowed to beef up joint military exercises with the
United States, after years of failed diplomacy with North Korea under his
predecessor.
The USS Reagan will take part in joint drills off
South Korea’s east coast this month.
Washington is Seoul’s key security ally and stations
about 28,500 troops in South Korea to protect it from the North.
The two countries have long carried out joint
exercises, which they insist are purely defensive but North Korea sees them as
rehearsals for an invasion.
South Korean and US officials have been warning for
months that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is preparing to conduct another
nuclear test.
In May, the North test-fired a short-range ballistic
missile from Sinpo, a major naval shipyard in North Korea.
The isolated regime has tested nuclear weapons six
times since 2006. Its last and most powerful one in 2017 — which Pyongyang
claimed was a hydrogen bomb — had an estimated yield of 250 kilotons.
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