North Korea fires short-range missiles ahead of Trump return

SEOUL: North Korea fired multiple short-range ballistic missiles off its east coast on Tuesday, South Korea’s military said, marking Pyongyang’s latest show of force just days ahead of US President-elect Donald Trump’s return to office.

The missiles travelled about 250 km (155 miles) after lifting off at around 09:30 am (0030 GMT) from Kanggye, Jagang Province, near the country’s border with China, Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said.

“We strongly condemn the launch as a clear provocation that seriously threatens the peace and stability of the Korean peninsula,” the JCS said, warning the North against “misjudging” the situation and vowing to “overwhelmingly respond” to any additional provocations.

South Korea’s Acting President Choi Sang-mok also condemned the launch as a violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions and said Seoul would sternly respond to North Korea’s provocations.

Seoul’s presidential office said its national security council held a meeting to review the situation and pledged an airtight posture.

North Korea fires suspected mid-range missile as Blinken visits Seoul

Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said he was aware of the missile test, and Tokyo was taking all possible measures to respond through close cooperation with Washington and Seoul, including real-time sharing of missile warning data.

The launch came about a week after the North fired what it claimed was a new intermediate-range hypersonic ballistic missile, which was its first missile test since Nov. 5.

The latest missile firing also occurred during a visit to Seoul by Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya. South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul and Iwaya condemned the North’s nuclear and missile development on Monday and pledged to boost security ties following talks in Seoul.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, while visiting Seoul last week, also called for further strengthening of bilateral and trilateral cooperation involving Tokyo to better counter Pyongyang’s growing military threats.

Tuesday’s launch occurred days before the inauguration of Trump, who held unprecedented summits with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during his first term and has touted their personal rapport.

South Korean lawmakers, after being briefed by the National Intelligence Service, said on Monday that Pyongyang’s recent weapons tests were partly aimed at “showing off its US deterrent assets and drawing Trump’s attention” after vowing “the toughest anti-US counteraction” at a key year-end policy meeting last month.