North Korea fired ballistic missiles into the sea east of the Korean peninsula, South Korea’s military said.
This is the latest in an unprecedented number of missile launches by North Korea this year, as Pyongyang pushes ahead with weapons development amid speculation it could test a nuclear weapon for the seventh time.
The three short-range ballistic missiles were fired around 0800 local time (2300 GMT) from North Hwanghae province, just south of the capital Pyongyang, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said.
Japan’s coast guard also said North Korea fired what could be a ballistic missile and sent a warning about a second possible missile. NHK reported that a second North Korean missile appeared to have landed outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone.
North Korea fired the missiles a day after South Korea’s Defense Ministry announced it had successfully conducted a test flight of a solid-propellant space launch vehicle.
On Monday, five North Korean drones crossed into South Korea, prompting the South Korean military to dispatch fighter jets and attack helicopters to try to shoot them down, in the first such intrusion since 2017.
Relations between North Korea and U.S. ally South Korea have become even more tense since South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol’s conservative government took power in May, promising a tougher stance toward the North.
Not counting Saturday’s launches, North Korea has fired about 70 ballistic missiles this year, Yonhap news agency said, including about eight intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs).
North Korean state media KCNA had not yet mentioned the shooting, but said on Saturday that leader Kim Jong Un had chaired a party meeting on Friday to decide policy and strategy for 2023.
