Ballistic missile: Tensions between the two Koreas further escalated as North Korea fired a short-range ballistic missile on Thursday, according to South Korea’s military. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered the military to be ready for a war and called for intensified exercises.
North Korea fired at least one short-range ballistic missile from the western city of Nampo toward the Yellow Sea, said South Korean military. The launch came ahead of a major joint military exercise known as the “Freedom Shield” between South Korea and the United States next week.
Missile fired ahead of US-South Korea joint exercise
As many as six missiles were fired at the same time, said media reports. The latest missile launches came ahead of the biggest joint military training exercises of United States and South Korea next week.
The South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missile was fired at around 6:20 p.m. from an area near the western coastal city of Nampo. However, there were no immediate assessments of how far it flew or where it landed.
The US Indo-Pacific Command said the latest launch posed no threat to the US or its allies. But Pyongyang’s weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs have a destabilising effect on the region, it said.
A few days earlier, Kim Jong’s sister had issued a warning that North Korea is ready to take “quick, overwhelming action” against the US and South Korea as the allies expand their military training to cope with a growing North Korean nuclear threat.
Kim Jong calls for intensified drills
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has ordered the military to intensify drills for a “real war”, reports said. Kim Jong supervised a fire assault drill that it said proved the country’s capability to counter an “actual war.”
North Korea’s KCNA news agency said a unit trained for “strike missions” fired a “powerful volley at the targeted waters” and demonstrated its capability to “counter an actual war.”
“(Kim) stressed that the fire assault sub-units should be strictly prepared for the greatest perfection in carrying out the two strategic missions, that is, first to deter war and second to take the initiative in war, by steadily intensifying various simulated drills for real war …,” KCNA said.
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