North Korea fires short-range missiles ahead of Trump's return

2025-01-14 08:56:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

North Korea launched several short-range ballistic missiles from its east coast on Tuesday, South Korea's military said, marking another show of force just days before the return to office of US President-elect Donald Trump.

The missiles traveled about 250 km after taking off at around 9:30 a.m. from Kanggye, in Jagang Province, near the country's border with China, Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said.

"We strongly condemn this launch as a clear provocation that seriously threatens peace and stability on the Korean peninsula," the JCS said, warning North Korea of ??"misinterpreting" the situation and promising to "respond forcefully" to any further provocation.

South Korea's acting president, Choi Sang-mok, also condemned the launch as a violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions and said Seoul would respond harshly to North Korea's provocations.

Seoul's presidential office said the National Security Council held a meeting to review the situation and pledged a firm stance.

The US Indo-Pacific Command condemned this test, urging Pyongyang to desist from further illegal and destabilizing actions.

Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said he was aware of the missile test and that Tokyo was taking all possible measures to respond through close cooperation with Washington and Seoul, including real-time sharing of missile warning data.

The launch came about a week after North Korea launched a medium-range hypersonic ballistic missile, which it claimed was a new missile, which was its first missile test since November 5.

The latest missile launch also occurred during a visit to Seoul by Japan's Foreign Minister, Takeshi Iwaya.

South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul and Iwaya condemned North Korea's weapons and missile development on Monday and pledged to strengthen security ties after talks in Seoul.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, during a visit to Seoul last week, also called for further strengthening of bilateral and trilateral cooperation, including with Tokyo, to better counter Pyongyang's growing military threats.

Tuesday's release came days before the inauguration of US President Trump, who held summits with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during his first term and praised his personal relationship with him.

South Korean lawmakers, following a briefing by the National Intelligence Service, said Monday that Pyongyang's latest weapons tests were partly aimed at "showing off its assets to the US and attracting Trump's attention," after vowing "the toughest countermeasure against the US" at a key political meeting late last year./REL