The second launch of the week by North Korea this week. Harris will be arriving in South Korea on Thursday for talks with South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol as well as other officials. Harris will also travel to the border that is tense with North Korea.
Seoul: North Korea launched a missile that was ballistic towards its waters to the east the previous day, South Korea’s military said just a day prior to U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris’s to visit the South.
The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said they detected that there was a North Korean missile launch but did not provide further information, including when or where the missile was fired from and the distance it was able to travel.
The second launch one by North Korea this week. Harris is scheduled to travel to South Korea on Thursday for talks with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, as well as other officials. She will also be visiting the border that is tense that borders North Korea, in what U.S. officials call an attempt to emphasize the power of the U.S.-South Korean alliance, as well as that of the U.S. commitment to “stand with” South Korea in the event of North Korea’s threats.
U.S. and South Korean navy vessels are also carrying out drills off South Korea’s East coast as a demonstration of the power of both nations in the fight against North Korea.
The four-day training exercise, which began on Monday, involves an aircraft with nuclear power, the USS Ronald Reagan. This is the first exercise conducted by allies that involve the U.S. airship carrier on Korea’s Korean Peninsula since 2017.
South Korea-U.S. joint military exercises typically provoke a furious reaction from North Korea, which views the exercises as a rehearsal for an invasion. A missile with short-range North Korean missile launched Sunday was interpreted as a reaction to the U.S.-South Korea training.
North Korea has dialed up its tests to record levels in 2022. The country is testing over 30 ballistic weapons including the premier intercontinental ballistic missiles in 2017. North Korea is exploiting a gap within the United Nations Security Council that has widened due to Russia’s war with Ukraine to accelerate its development of arms.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has repeatedly warned that his country would proactively utilize nuclear weapons should it be the situation becomes threatening, causing security risks in conventionally armed South Korea.
