Seoul: North Korea fires extra 6 missiles

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea says North Korea has fired a further six missiles off its jap and western coasts.

South Korea’s navy stated the launches got here after it detected at the very least 17 missile firings by North Korea off its jap and western coasts earlier Wednesday.

South Korea’s navy stated one of many 17 missiles flew within the path of a South Korean island earlier than it landed close to the ocean border between the rivals. South Korea stated it issued an aerial raid alert for the island.

The North Korean missile launches got here as Pyongyang threatens to retaliate towards ongoing South Korea-U.S. navy drills that it views as an invasion rehearsal.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story is under:

Air raid sirens sounded on a South Korean island and residents there evacuated to underground shelters after North Korea fired at the very least 17 missiles Wednesday, at the very least certainly one of them in its path and touchdown close to the rivals’ tense sea border. South Korea rapidly responded by launching its personal missiles in the identical border space.

The launches got here hours after North Korea threatened to make use of nuclear weapons to get the U.S. and South Korea to “pay essentially the most horrible value in historical past” in protest of the ongoing South Korean-U.S. navy drills that it views as an invasion rehearsal. The White Home maintained that the US has no hostile intent towards North Korea and vowed to work with allies to curb North Korea’s nuclear ambitions.

The North’s barrage of missile exams additionally got here as world consideration was targeted on South Korea following a weekend Halloween tragedy that noticed greater than 150 folks killed in a crowd surge in Seoul in what was the nation’s largest catastrophe in years.

South Korea’s navy stated North Korea launched at the very least 17 missiles — all short-range ballistic weapons or suspected surface-to-air missiles — off its its jap and western coasts on Wednesday morning. Later within the day, North Korea fired about 100 artillery shells into an jap maritime buffer zone the Koreas created in 2018 to cut back tensions, in response to South Korea’s navy.

The launch of 17 missiles is a document variety of day by day missile exams by North Korea, some specialists say.

One of many ballistic missiles was flying towards South Korea’s Ulleung island earlier than it will definitely landed 167 kilometers (104 miles) northwest of the island. South Korea’s navy subsequently issued an air raid alert on the island, in response to the South’s Joint Chiefs of Employees. South Korean media revealed pictures displaying island residents transferring to underground shelters.

Hours in a while Wednesday, South Korea’s navy stated it lifted the air raid alert on the island. South Korea’s transport ministry stated it has closed some air routes above the nation’s jap waters till Thursday morning within the wake of the North Korean launches.

That missile landed 26 kilometers (16 miles) away from the rivals’ sea border. It landed in worldwide waters however far south of the 2 nations’ border, off the east coast of South Korea. South Korea’s navy stated it was the primary time a North Korean missile had landed so near the ocean border because the nations’ division in 1948.

“That is very unprecedented and we are going to by no means tolerate it,” South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Employees stated in an announcement.

In 2010, North Korea shelled a frontline South Korean island off the peninsula’s western coast, killing 4 folks. However the weapons used had been artillery rockets, not ballistic missiles whose launches or exams are banned by a number of U.N. Safety Council resolutions.

Later Wednesday, South Korean fighter jets launched three air-to-surface, precision-guided missiles close to the jap sea border to indicate its dedication to get powerful on North Korean provocations. South Korea’s navy stated the missiles landed in worldwide waters on the similar distance of 26 kilometers (16 miles) north of the ocean border because the North Korean missile fell earlier Wednesday.

It stated it maintains a readiness to win “an awesome victory” towards North Korea in potential clashes.

“North Korea firing missiles in a approach that units off air raid sirens seems meant to threaten South Koreans to stress their authorities to alter coverage,” stated Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha College in Seoul. “North Korea’s increasing navy capabilities and exams are worrisome, however providing concessions about alliance cooperation or nuclear recognition would make issues worse.”

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Employees earlier recognized three of the North Korean weapons launched as “short-range ballistic missiles” fired from the North’s jap coastal city of Wonsan, together with the one which landed close to the ocean border.

North Korean short-range weapons are designed to strike key services in South Korea, together with U.S. navy bases there.

In an emergency assembly with high safety officers, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol ordered officers to take swift unspecified steps to make North Korea face penalties for its provocation. He stated he would think about the North Korean missile’s touchdown close to the border “a digital violation of (our) territorial waters.”

Through the emergency South Korean assembly, officers additionally lamented that the North Korean missile launches got here as South Korea is in a mourning interval over the group crush. They famous this “clearly confirmed the character of the North Korean authorities,” in response to South Korea’s presidential workplace.

Earlier Wednesday, Japanese Protection Minister Yasukazu Hamada informed reporters that at the very least two ballistic missiles fired by North Korea confirmed a presumably “irregular” trajectory. This implies the missiles are the North’s extremely maneuverable, nuclear-capable KN-23 missile, which was modeled on Russia’s Iskander missile.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida known as North Korea’s persevering with missile exams “completely impermissible.”

Analyst Cheong Seong-Chang on the personal Sejong Institute in South Korea stated that the hazard of armed clashes between the Koreas off their western or jap coasts is growing. He stated South Korea must make “proportional responses” to North Korean provocations, not “overwhelming responses,” to forestall tensions from spiraling uncontrolled and presumably main the North to make use of its tactical nuclear weapons.

Animosities on the Korean Peninsula have been working excessive in current months, with North Korea testing a string of nuclear-capable missiles and adopting a legislation authorizing the preemptive use of its nuclear weapons in a broad vary of conditions. Some specialists nonetheless doubt North Korea would use nuclear weapons first within the face of U.S. and South Korean forces.

North Korea has argued its current weapons exams had been meant to subject a warning to Washington and Seoul over their collection of joint navy drills that it views as an invasion rehearsal, together with this week’s workout routines involving about 240 warplanes.

In an announcement launched early Wednesday, Pak Jong Chon, a secretary of the ruling Staff’ Get together who is taken into account a detailed confidant of chief Kim Jong Un, known as the so-called Vigilant Storm air power drills “aggressive and provocative.”

“If the U.S. and South Korea try to make use of armed forces towards (North Korea) with none worry, the particular technique of the (North’s) armed forces will perform their strategic mission immediately,” Pak stated, in an obvious reference to his nation’s nuclear weapons.

“The U.S. and South Korea must face a horrible case and pay essentially the most horrible value in historical past,” he stated.

U.S. and South Korean officers have steadfastly stated their drills are defensive in nature and that they don’t have any intentions of attacking North Korea.

“We reject the notion that they function any type of provocation. We have now made clear that we have now no hostile intent in the direction of (North Korea) and name on them to interact in severe and sustained diplomacy,” White Home Nationwide Safety Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson stated late Tuesday.

North Korea “continues to not reply. On the similar time, we are going to proceed to work intently with our allies and companions to restrict the North’s means to advance its illegal weapons applications and threaten regional stability,” Watson stated.

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Related Press writers Kim Tong-hyung in Seoul, Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo and Aamer Madhani in Washington, D.C. contributed to this report.