North Korea has launched short-range ballistic missiles towards its eastern waters as United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken prepared to commence a democracy summit in neighboring South Korea, officials reported.
The US Joint Chiefs of Staff announced on Monday that North Korea had fired an unspecified ballistic missile toward the East Sea, commonly known as the Sea of Japan.
Confirming the launches, Japan’s Coast Guard noted that the objects appeared to have already descended.
These missile launches occurred in the aftermath of the conclusion of 11 days of joint military exercises between the US and South Korea, termed the Freedom Shield drills.
North Korea has consistently denounced these joint drills as preparations for an invasion.
Earlier this month, Pyongyang warned of a “dear price” that Seoul and Washington would pay for this year’s Freedom Shield exercises, which involved twice as many troops as the previous year. Approximately 27,000 US soldiers are stationed in South Korea, where the drills took place.
Monday’s test marks the latest in a series of weapons demonstrations by North Korea this year, including the unveiling of a missile equipped with a maneuverable hypersonic warhead on January 14.
Shortly after the missile launches, Blinken and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol addressed the opening of the Summit for Democracy, hosted by South Korea this year.
Both Blinken and Yoon emphasized the role of technology in promoting democracy, as well as its potential to undermine it.
Blinken’s remarks followed the passage of a bill by the US House of Representatives last week that could lead to the banning of the popular social media app TikTok, owned by Chinese developer ByteDance.
The Summit for Democracy, an initiative of US President Joe Biden, has faced criticism in previous years due to its selective invitation list, with countries such as Thailand and Turkey reportedly excluded.
