SEOUL– North Korea fired one short-range ballistic missile (SRBM) into the East Sea on Thursday, its first missile provocation in a little over a week, according to the South Korean military.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected the launch from the Wonsan area in Kangwon Province at 10:48 a.m. It did not provide other details.
“While strengthening our monitoring and vigilance, our military is maintaining a full readiness posture in close cooperation with the United States,” the JCS said in a text message sent to reporters.
The launch came shortly after North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui warned the North will take “fiercer” military actions if the United States sticks to a move to strengthen its “extended deterrence” commitment to regional allies.
Extended deterrence refers to America’s pledge to use a full range of its military capabilities, both nuclear and conventional, to defend its allies.
U.S. President Joe Biden reaffirmed that pledge during a trilateral summit with South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on the margins of annual regional gatherings in Phnom Penh on Sunday.
The North previously fired a short-range ballistic missile into the East Sea on Nov. 9.
Source: Yonhap News Agency