North Korea fired a “long-range ballistic missile” on Thursday, South Korea’s military said, Pyongyang’s first weapons test after Seoul accused Russia of sending thousands of troops to Russia.
South Korea’s military warned a day earlier that nuclear-armed North Korea was preparing to test another intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) or even conduct a nuclear test, possibly ahead of next week’s US elections. Before.
“Our military intercepted a missile launched from the Pyongyang area toward the East Sea at about 7:10 a.m. (2210 GMT) this morning,” Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said, referring to the area of ​​water also known as the Sea of ​​Japan. Ballistic missile detected.”
“A ballistic missile is considered a long-range missile launched at a high angle,” it said.
North Korea typically tests its longest-range and most powerful missiles on so-called high trajectories – upward, not outward – which it says avoids overflying neighboring countries. Is for.
“Our military has raised its alert level and is closely sharing information about North Korea’s ballistic missile launches with US and Japanese officials,” Seoul’s JCS said.
Tokyo also confirmed a possible launch, with Japan’s coast guard reporting “a possible ballistic missile object launched by North Korea” and warning ships to exercise caution.
The launch came just hours after the US and South Korean defense chiefs called on Pyongyang to withdraw its troops from Russia, where Washington says about 10,000 troops have been deployed for possible action against Ukrainian forces.
– Arms Russia –
The defense chiefs of South Korea and the United States condemned North Korea’s troop deployment to Russia in “strongest terms” at the allies’ annual defense talks at the Pentagon on Wednesday.
Thousands of troops have been transferred to western Russia, with the military telling lawmakers on Wednesday that Seoul had previously said the nuclear-armed North’s increased deployment posed a “significant security threat.”
A presidential official said, “The fact that such a large number of personnel moved to the West suggests that they may have gone only for inspection.”
Seoul, a major arms exporter, has said it is reviewing whether to send arms directly to Ukraine in response, which it already opposes due to a long-standing domestic policy that prevents it from engaging in active conflicts. Prevents arms from being made available in India.
Seoul has long accused the nuclear-armed North of sending weapons to Moscow to help fight Kiev and accused Kim Jong Un of signing a mutual defense pact with Russian President Vladimir Putin in June. In view of this, Pyongyang has taken steps to deploy troops on a large scale.
North Korea has denied sending troops, but in its first comments to state media last week its deputy foreign minister said that if such a deployment were to occur, it would be in line with international law.
Pyongyang has been banned from tests using ballistic technology under several rounds of United Nations sanctions, but Kim Jong Un has stepped up testing this year, prompting experts to warn that he could do so before providing weapons to Russia. Can test the weapon.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
