South Korea’s military said on Wednesday that North Korea had launched a ballistic missile near its east coast, but no more information, such as the projectile’s flight range, was immediately available.
The launch comes amid mounting concerns that Pyongyang may be ready for its first nuclear device test since 2017. The North has conducted a record number of missile tests this year, including an ICBM test last week.
On Monday, North Korea claimed that its recent missile launches were mock attacks on South Korea and the US as the two nations conducted a “dangerous war exercise,” while the South claimed to have found pieces of a North Korean missile close to its shore.
As South Korea and the US conducted a six-day air practise that ended on Saturday, North Korea conducted numerous missile tests last week, perhaps involving an ICBM that failed, as well as hundreds of artillery round tests into the sea.
The “Vigilant Storm” training exercises, according to the military of the North, were “a dangerous war drill of very high aggressive nature” and a “open provocation aimed at purposely raising the tension.”
In order to “smash the adversaries’ incessant war hysteria,” the North’s army claimed to have carried out exercises simulating attacks on air bases, planes, and a significant South Korean city.
The barrage of missile launches, which included the most ever in one day, coincided with a record year for North Korea’s nuclear-armed missile testing.