North Korea fires 2 ballistic missiles into waters between Korean Peninsula, Japan

By Anadolu staff

ANKARA (AA) – North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles Wednesday into waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan, according to the South Korean military.

South Korea's military said it detected the launches from the Sunan area in Pyongyang from where the missiles flew some 550 kilometers (some 341 miles) before splashing into the sea which South Korea calls the East Sea and Tokyo calls the Sea of Japan, Seoul-based Yonhap News reported.

The latest missile launch came just a day after Seoul and Washington Tuesday held their first joint Nuclear Consultative Group meeting.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) condemned the missile launches and called them "acts of significant provocation" harming peace in the region.

"Our military will maintain a firm readiness posture based on capabilities to respond overwhelmingly to any North Korean provocations," the agency said, citing a JCS statement.

Meanwhile, Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada also confirmed that the missiles flew for up to 600 kilometers (372 miles) with a peak altitude of some 50 kilometers (31 miles) and apparently fell outside Japan's exclusive economic zone, Tokyo-based Kyodo News reported.

He said they may have traveled on an irregular trajectory.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida also condemned the latest launch and said North Korea violated the UN Security Council resolutions which ban it from developing ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons and said Pyongyang threatens "peace and stability in the international community," according to the agency.

On Tuesday, a US soldier crossed the border between North and South Korea. Later, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin confirmed and said that one of its service members was taken into custody in North Korea after crossing the militarized border while on a tour.

The soldier, who has not been publicly identified, "willfully and without authorization crossed the military demarcation line," Austin told reporters at the Pentagon.

However, so far North Korea has not commented on or confirmed the incident.

Last week, North Korea fired a long-range ballistic missile into waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan, claiming to have set a new record flight time of 74 minutes and 51 seconds, the longest for a North Korean missile.

Pyongyang has launched 14 missiles this year, including the intercontinental ballistic-class Hwasong-15, Hwasong-17, and Hwasong-18 missiles, as well as its first military spy satellite in May, though this crashed into the Korean Sea.

*Writing by Islamuddin Sajid