North Korea on Thursday launched a short-range ballistic missile into the Sea of Japan, also known as the East Sea, in response to the reinforcement of U.S. and South Korean military activities in the region.
According to the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff, Pyongyang has fired its first missile in more than eight days, when in early November it launched a hundred projectiles, of which one crossed the maritime demarcation separating the two Koreas for the first time since the war in the 1950s, Yonhap reported.
The launch came two hours after North Korea warned that it would take «fiercer» military action if the United States sticks to «its campaign to strengthen extended deterrence to its regional allies».
This new test by Pyongyang further escalates tensions in the region after North Korea has in recent weeks launched dozens of ballistic missiles in tests banned by UN Security Council resolutions, in response to U.S.-Korean military exercises it considers a rehearsal for invasion.
The United States, as well as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has shared its evidence that North Korea is «likely» to conduct a nuclear missile test, its first since 2017, after noting an escalation of tension in recent weeks.
