A surface-to-air missile is fired during a joint U.S.-South Korean firing exercise at an unidentified location, South Korea, on May 25, 2022. Joint Chiefs of Staff / Yonhap via REUTERS / File Photo
Register now for FREE and unlimited access to Reuters.com
Sign up
SEUL, June 6 (Reuters) – South Korea and US shoot down eight surface-to-surface missiles early Monday on South Korea’s east coast after North Korea launched a short-range ballistic missile bombing on Sunday scope, according to a South Korean Defense Ministry. said the official.
The action is a demonstration of “the ability and readiness to carry out a precision attack” against the source of North Korean missile launches or command and support centers, the Korean news agency said. from South Yonhap citing the South Korean army.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, who took office last month, has vowed to take a tougher line against the North and agreed with US President Joe Biden at a May summit in Seoul to improve the exercises. joint military and their combined deterrent stance.
Register now for FREE and unlimited access to Reuters.com
Sign up
The South Korean and U.S. military fired eight surface-to-surface missiles for about 10 minutes from 4:45 a.m. Monday (1945 GMT Sunday) in response to eight missiles fired from the North on Sunday, Yonhap reported .
A South Korean Defense Ministry official confirmed that eight Army tactical missile systems (ATACMS) had been fired.
North Korea’s short-range ballistic missiles, launched into the sea off its east coast on Sunday, were probably its largest individual test and took place a day after South Korea and the United States joint military exercises. Read more
Bilateral exercises between South Korea and the United States involved an American aircraft carrier for the first time in more than four years.
Japan and the United States also held a joint military exercise on Sunday in response to North Korea’s latest missile tests.
North Korea, which has been battling its first known outbreak of COVID-19 for weeks, has criticized previous joint exercises as an example of Washington’s continued “hostile policies” toward Pyongyang, despite its expression of diplomacy.
North Korea has carried out a series of missile launches this year, from hypersonic weapons to tests of its largest intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) for the first time in almost five years.
Yonhap, citing an unidentified source, said the northern volley on Sunday was launched from four locations, including Sunan in the capital, Pyongyang.
North Korea has continued its recent trend of not reporting missile launches to state media, which some analysts have said it wants to show they do as part of routine military exercises.
Washington and Seoul officials also recently warned that North Korea appears ready to resume nuclear weapons testing for the first time since 2017.
Last month, North Korea fired three missiles, including one thought to be its largest ICBM, the Hwasong-17, after Biden ended a trip to Asia where it accepted new measures to deter the state. nuclear armed. Read more
The combined forces of South Korea and the United States also fired missiles in response to these tests, which the two allies say are violations of UN Security Council resolutions.
Last month, the United States called for more UN sanctions on North Korea for its ballistic missile launches, but China and Russia vetoed the suggestion, publicly dividing the UN Security Council on North Korea. for the first time since it began punishing him in 2006, when North Korea conducted its first nuclear test.
Register now for FREE and unlimited access to Reuters.com
Sign up
Report by Jack Kim and Choi Soo-hyang in Seoul; Written by Lincoln Feast; Editing by Tom Hogue, Neil Fullick and Gerry Doyle
Our standards: Thomson Reuters’ principles of trust.