Seoul: North Korea fired one short-range ballistic missile toward the East Sea on Thursday, South Korea's military said. The missile was launched from the eastern coastal Wonsan area in the North at around 5 p.m., according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), who did not provide further details about the missile.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the JCS is strengthening monitoring and surveillance against potential additional launches. The military is maintaining a full readiness posture and closely sharing relevant information with the United States and Japan. The JCS is currently analyzing the specifications of the launched missile with the U.S., adding that the two sides have jointly detected and shared the North's related movements from the initial stage of the launch.
The latest launch comes over a month after North Korea last conducted a test of a tactical ballistic missile, new multiple rocket launchers, and other weapons on June 25. The tests were overseen by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and coincided with the 76th anniversary of the outbreak of the 1950-53 Korean War, seemingly to demonstrate its ability to target major facilities in the South.
Thursday's missile launch also comes ahead of South Korea's annual summertime joint military exercise with the U.S., Ulchi Freedom Shield, expected later this month. In response, South Korea's presidential national security office immediately convened a meeting with officials from the defense ministry and the JCS to instruct them to maintain an alert response posture and assess the impact of the launch on South Korea's national security.
The national security office labeled the North's ballistic missile launch as a provocation that violates United Nations Security Council resolutions and called for its immediate halt.