Both North and South Korea tested ballistic missiles on Wednesday, ratcheting up tensions exponentially in what was already one of the most volatile regions on the planet.
Both North and South Korea tested ballistic missiles on Wednesday, ratcheting up tensions exponentially in what was already one of the most volatile regions on the planet.
Pyongyang fired the first missiles on Wednesday, sending two into waters off the east coast of the Korean Peninsula five minutes apart, at 12:38 p.m. and 12:43 p.m. local time (11:38 p.m. and 11:43 p.m. ET), according to Japan's Coast Guard.
Seoul followed that test less than three hours later, firing a new submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) from the submerged 3,700-ton submarine ROKS Dosan Ahn Changho, South Korea's Defense Ministry said. The missile hit its target accurately, the ministry said without giving more details.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in was present for the test, the ministry said.
South Korea's first underwater-launched ballistic missile is test-fired from a submarine at an undisclosed location on September 15, in this image provided by the South Korea Defense Ministry.
South Korea's weapons development, including its missile capabilities, has been picking up speed as the country tries to become less dependent on the United States and more wary of the growing missile program in North Korea.
In May, Moon and US President Joe Biden agreed to end a 40-year-old bilateral agreement that limited the range and payload of South Korean missiles.
North Korea, in a posting from its state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), called the ending of those restrictions on the South a "deliberate and hostile act" by Washington and vowed to "counter the US on the principle of strength for strength."
With the launch, South Korea becomes the seventh military in the world to successfully test and SLBM, the ministry said.
The other SLBM nations are also nuclear powers, but South Korea does not have nuclear weapons.
Earlier, North Korea fired two unidentified ballistic missiles into waters off the east coast of the Korean Peninsula on Wednesday, according to South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff.
South Korea said the missiles covered a distance of about 800 kilometers (500 miles) while going as high as 60 kilometers (37 miles).
Japan's Defense Ministry said the North Korean projectiles are believed to have fallen into waters outside its exclusive economic zone.
Still, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga called the North Korean launches "outrageous," adding they "threaten the peace and security of our country and region."
While the US military's Indo-Pacific Command in Hawaii said the North Korean test did not pose any "immediate threat" to the US or its allies, it said in a statement that the launch "highlights the destabilizing impact of the DPRK's illicit weapons program."
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