North Korea fired 23 missiles into the sea on Wednesday, including one that landed less than 60 kilometres off South Korea’s coast on Wednesday, prompting South Korea to issue rare air raid warnings and launch its own missiles in response.
It was the first time a ballistic missile had landed near the South’s waters, and the most missiles fired by the North in a single day.
South Korean warplanes fired three air-to-ground missiles into the sea north across the NLL in response, the South’s military said. An official said the weapons used included an AGM-84H/K SLAM-ER, which is a U.S.-made “stand-off” precision attack weapon that can fly for up to 270 kilometres (170 miles) with a 360 kg (800-pound) warhead.
The North Korean weapon was one of three short-range ballistic missiles fired from the North Korean coastal area of Wonsan into the sea, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said. The JCS later said as many as 14 other missiles of various types had been fired from North Korea’s east and west coasts.
The JCS said at least one of the missiles landed 26 kilometres south of the NLL, 57 kilometres (35 miles) from the South Korean city of Sokcho, on the east coast, and 167 kilometres from the island of Ulleung, where air raid warnings were issued.
Here are the latest updates in the story:
– Russia on Wednesday called for calm after North Korea fired at least 23 missiles, including one that landed close to South Korea’s waters. “We urge everyone to keep calm,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. “All parties to this conflict should avoid taking any steps that could provoke a further increase in tensions.”
– Seoul’s military said North Korea had fired four additional ballistic missiles early Wednesday, part of a barrage of launches over the course of the day, including a missile landing close to South Korean waters.
– The military said it was the “first time since the peninsula was divided” at the end of the Korean War hostilities in 1953 that a North Korean missile had landed so close to the South’s territorial waters.
– “President Yoon pointed out today that North Korea’s provocation is an effective territorial invasion by a missile that crossed the Northern Limit Line for the first time since the division,” his office said in a statement.
– The missile that was closest to South Korea landed in waters just 57 kilometers (35 miles) east of the South Korean mainland, the military said.
– South Korea on Wednesday told residents on the island of Ulleungdo off its east coast to evacuate to bunkers after North Korea fired three short range ballistic missiles.
– South Korean military said that the missile launch near its waters is ‘intolerable’ and vowed ‘decisive’ response.
– North Korea said Tuesday that US-South Korean air drills now under way are preparations for a possible invasion and warned that those countries will pay dearly if they attack the North.
– Tensions are extremely high on the North Korean peninsula after months of persistent warnings from Washington and Seoul that Pyongyang leader Kim Jong Un could order a nuclear test soon.
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