By Jack Kim and Soo-hyang Choi
SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea and the United States said they fired eight surface-to-surface missiles early Monday off South Korea’s east coast, in response to a barrage of short-range ballistic missiles launched by North Korea on Sunday.
The action is a demonstration of “the ability and readiness to carry out precision strikes” against the source of North Korea’s missile launches or command and support centers, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency quoted the South Korean military as saying. .
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, enhance joint military exercises and their combined deterrent posture.
North Korea has carried out a series of missile launches this year, and Yoon said its missile and nuclear weapons programs have reached a level where they pose a threat to regional and world peace.
The South “will continue to build fundamental and practical security capabilities and deter nuclear and missile threats from the North,” Yoon said at a Memorial Day event in South Korea.
The South Korean and US militaries fired eight surface-to-surface missiles over about 10 minutes starting at 4:45 a.m. Monday (1945 GMT Sunday) in response to eight missiles launched by North Korea on Sunday. Yonhap reported.
A South Korean Defense Ministry official confirmed that eight Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) had been fired.
The US Indo-Pacific Command said the exercise included one missile from the US Army and seven from South Korea.
“The ROK-US Alliance remains committed to peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula and throughout the Indo-Pacific,” it said in a statement, using the initials of South Korea’s official name.
RECIPROCAL EXERCISES
North Korea’s short-range ballistic missiles, fired into the sea off its east coast on Sunday, were probably its biggest single test and came a day after South Korea and the United States ended military exercises. sets.
The bilateral exercises between South Korea and the United States involved a US 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 several weeks, has criticized previous joint drills as an example of Washington’s continued “hostile policies” toward Pyongyang, despite talk of diplomacy.
Yonhap, citing an unnamed source, said North Korea’s blast on Sunday was launched from four locations, including Sunan in the capital Pyongyang.
Leif-Eric Easley, a professor of international studies at Ewha University in Seoul, said South Korea’s current missile defenses are insufficient against the growing threat from North Korea.
“This requires not only increased hardware investments, but also a coordinated, higher-level approach with Japan and diplomatic efforts with Beijing to reduce the dynamics of the arms race with Pyongyang.”
North Korea continued its recent trend of not reporting missile launches in state media, which some analysts say is meant to show the tests are part of routine military exercises.
Officials in Washington and Seoul also recently warned that North Korea appeared ready to resume nuclear weapons testing for the first time since 2017.
Last month, North Korea fired three missiles, including one believed to be its largest intercontinental ballistic missile, the Hwasong-17, after Biden ended a trip to Asia in which he agreed to new measures to deter the state with nuclear weapons.
Joint South Korean and US forces also fired missiles in response to those tests, which the two allies say are violations of UN Security Council resolutions.
Last month, the United States called for more UN sanctions against North Korea over its ballistic missile launches, but China and Russia vetoed the suggestion, publicly splitting the UN Security Council over North Korea for the first time since it began. to punish him in 2006, when North Korea conducted its first nuclear test.
(Reporting by Jack Kim and Choi Soo-hyang in Seoul; Additional reporting by Eric Beech; Writing by Lincoln Feast; Editing by Tom Hogue, Neil Fullick, and Gerry Doyle)
Reference-news.yahoo.com