North Korea fires 8 short-range ballistic missiles: Seoul military

SEOUL: North Korea fired eight short-range ballistic missiles (SRBMs) towards the East Sea on Sunday, a day after Seoul and Washington wrapped up their joint drills near the peninsula, according to the South Korean military. The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said the launches were detected from 9.08 a.m. to 9.43 a.m. from areas around Sunan in Pyongyang. "While strengthening monitoring activities and vigilance, our military, in close cooperation with the US, is maintaining a full readiness posture," the JCS said in the message.

It marked the North's 18th show of force this year and the third since President Yoon Suk-yeol took office May 10 with a pledge to get tough on the recalcitrant regime. The North test-fired a suspected new-type ICBM and two apparent short-range ballistic missiles into the East Sea on May 25 right after US President Joe Biden's trip to Seoul and Tokyo.

On Saturday, South Korea and the US completed a three-day combined exercise in international waters off Okinawa mobilising the USS Ronald Reagan, a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. It marked the first time for the allies to have mobilised a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier during a combined exercise since November 2017. IANS

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