North Korea Fires 10 Ballistic Missiles During U.S.-South Korea Freedom Shield Drills

North Korea launched roughly 10 ballistic missiles on Saturday, escalating tensions in the region as the United States and South Korea continued joint military drills designed to deter exactly this kind of communist aggression.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missiles were fired from the Sunan area near Pyongyang at about 1:20 p.m. local time and flew roughly 350 kilometers before splashing into the sea off the North’s east coast, Reuters reported.

Japanese officials said the projectiles did not land inside Japan’s exclusive economic zone.

RTL Today reported:

Pyongyang recently dashed hopes of a diplomatic thaw with Seoul, Washington’s security ally, describing its latest peace efforts as a “clumsy, deceptive farce”.

Seoul’s military detected “around ten ballistic missiles launched from the Sunan area in North Korea toward the East Sea at around 1:20pm (0420 GMT),” JCS said in a statement, referring to South Korea’s name for the body of water.

The missiles flew a distance of around 350 kilometres, they said adding that South Korean and US authorities are analysing their exact specifications.

The South Korean military is ready to “respond overwhelmingly to any provocation,” JCS added.

Japan’s defence ministry also confirmed North Korea launched multiple ballistic missiles that reached a maximum altitude of about 80 kilometres and fell outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone near the Korean Peninsula’s east coast.

[…]

“Global attention is currently focused on the war in the Middle East and North Korea has historically carried out military provocations when it wants to draw attention to its presence,” Hong Sung-pyo, a senior researcher at the Korea Institute for Military Affairs, told AFP.

“And that motive likely underlies this launch as well,” he added.

The launch came as U.S. and South Korean forces carried out the annual Freedom Shield exercises, which both allies have repeatedly described as defensive readiness drills.

Of course, the Kim regime predictably lashed out, once again portraying lawful allied defense cooperation as some kind of “provocation” while it continues violating U.N. sanctions and threatening its neighbors with missile barrages.

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