(Bloomberg) — North Korea fired a suspected ballistic missile Thursday into waters off its east coast after warning the U.S. of a “brutal” move if it continued to hold joint military exercises with its allies in the region.
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North Korea fired a short-range ballistic missile at around 10:48 a.m. from Kangwon province, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said. It was its first missile test in about a week and adds to a record of more than 60 ballistic missiles launched this year – in violation of UN resolutions barring Pyongyang from such launches.
The test came shortly after Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui issued a statement that Pyongyang would respond militarily if the US continued to work with its allies on joint exercises, including those to deter North Korea.
“The more the US pursues the ‘enhanced extended deterrence proposal’ to its allies and the more it steps up provocative and bluffing military actions on the Korean Peninsula and in the region, the fiercer the DPRK’s military countermeasures will be,” she said in a statement. published by state media, referring to North Korea by its official name.
North Korea launches ballistic missile, adding barrage
Leader Kim Jong Un has raised tensions to some of their highest levels in years by firing a massive barrage of missiles in recent weeks, including the first shot across a maritime border with South Korea established since the Korean War.
Kim finds room to increase provocations and take military action against the US and its allies, while the Biden administration focuses on Russia’s war in Ukraine. Russia and China, two longtime partners of North Korea, have veto power in the UN Security Council and have shown no intention of punishing Kim with additional sanctions.
North Korea bristles at decades of joint military exercises, calling them a prelude to an invasion. The US, Japan and South Korea have warned that the Kim regime appears poised to escalate tensions further with its first nuclear bomb test in around five years.
–With the help of Shinhye Kang.
(Updates with details.)
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