SEOUL: South Korea’s military officials said North Korea test-fired a ballistic missile on Tuesday. The North Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee said in a statement that Pyongyang “fires unnamed ballistic missile towards the East Sea.” It is North Korea’s second launch in days, as the United States (US) and South Korea kicked off their largest combined military exercise in five years.
South Korea-North Korea Ties
The US and S Korea kicked off their largest joint military drills in five years on Monday, following North Korea warned such actions could be seen as a “declaration of war”. The US and S Korea have ramped up the defense and military collaboration in the face of rising nuclear threats from N Korea, which has carried out ever more provocative banned arms tests in the last few months.
The South Korea-US drills, called “Freedom Shield”, are scheduled to continue for at least ten days and will focus on the “changing security environment” due to N. Korea’s aggression, the allies claimed. In an infrequent move, the S. Korean army disclosed that Seoul and Washington special troops were staging “Teak Knife” military exercise ahead of the “Freedom Shield” exercise. All such exercises infuriate N. Korea, which views the drills as rehearsals for an attack. N. Korea claimed its nuclear missile programs are for the purpose of self-defense.
Earlier, North Korea test-fired two strategic cruise missiles from a submarine in a showpiece of force ahead of the (US) and S Korea’s major joint military drills.
