North Korea fired at least seven short-range ballistic missiles on Tuesday (5) off the east coast, Japan’s defense minister said, shortly after Pyongyang condemned its rivals’ military exercises and just hours before the US elections. .
The sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un condemned the exercises involving the United States, Japan and South Korea, in a report published on state media KCNA.
At least seven missiles flew at an altitude of 100 km and reached a range of 400 km before falling outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone into the ocean, Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani said.
They were fired at around 7:30 pm on Monday (4), Brasília time, – 7:30 am local time – in the vicinity of Sariwon, North Hwanghae province, said the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The United States was closely consulting with South Korea, Japan and other regional allies following the launches and continued to monitor the situation, the U.S. military said.
The latest launch follows North Korea’s test last week of a massive new solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile called the Hwasong-19, and comes hours before voting begins in the US presidential election.
“If the ICBM was made for the US, the latest ballistic missiles are for South Korea,” said Yang Moo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.
“Directly, it is to protest the joint air exercises of South Korea, the US and Japan. Indirectly, it is to show their last-minute presence before the US presidential election,” said Yang, who also saw the intention to divert attention from the international community of criticism of the sending of North Korean troops to Russia.
North Korean state media KCNA said Kim Yo Jong, the sister of the country’s leader Kim Jong Un, condemned recent military exercises by the United States, Japan and South Korea as threats and said they justified Korea’s nuclear buildup. from the North.
The missile launch also came after Russian President Vladimir Putin unexpectedly met with North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui on Monday (4).
During Putin’s surprise Kremlin meeting with Choe, the two shook hands for a full minute at a time of growing concern in the West that North Korean soldiers are about to enter the Ukraine war on Moscow’s side.
This Monday (4), the US also called out Russia and China at the UN Security Council for “blatantly protecting” and encouraging North Korea to further violate UN sanctions by advancing its ballistic missile programs, nuclear weapons and weapons of mass destruction.
South Korean Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun noted late last month that North Korea “would want to exaggerate its existence around the U.S. presidential election season before and after the election” for a show of force, such as an intercontinental missile test or other nuclear test.
This content was originally published in North Korea fires short-range missiles this Tuesday (5), says Japan on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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