\n
\n
SEOUL, South Korea , Nov 02 (AP) \u2014 Air raid sirens sounded on a South Korean island and residents evacuated to underground shelters after North Korea fired more than 20 missiles Wednesday, at least one of them in its direction and landing near the rivals\u2019 tense sea border. South Korea quickly responded by launching its own missiles in the same border area.<\/p>\n
The launches came hours after North Korea threatened to use nuclear weapons to get the U.S. and South Korea to \u201cpay the most horrible price in history\u201d in protest of ongoing South Korean-U.S. military drills that it views as an invasion rehearsal. The White House maintained that the United States has no hostile intent toward North Korea and vowed to work with allies to curb North Korea\u2019s nuclear ambitions.<\/p>\n
The North\u2019s barrage of missile tests also came as world attention was focused on South Korea following a weekend Halloween tragedy that saw more than 150 people killed in a crowd surge in Seoul in what was the country\u2019s largest disaster in years.<\/p>\n
South Korea\u2019s military said North Korea launched at least 23 missiles \u2014 17 in the morning and six in the afternoon \u2014 off its its eastern and western coasts on Wednesday. It said the weapons were all short-range ballistic missiles or suspected surface-to-air missiles. Also Wednesday, North Korea fired about 100 artillery shells into an eastern maritime buffer zone the Koreas created in 2018 to reduce tensions, according to South Korea\u2019s military.<\/p>\n
The 23 missiles launched is a record number of daily missile tests by North Korea, some experts say.<\/p>\n
One of the ballistic missiles was flying toward South Korea\u2019s Ulleung island before it eventually landed 167 kilometers (104 miles) northwest of the island. South Korea\u2019s military issued an air raid alert on the island, according to the South\u2019s Joint Chiefs of Staff. South Korean media published photos of island residents moving to underground shelters.<\/p>\n
Hours later, South Korea\u2019s military said it lifted the air raid alert on the island. South Korea\u2019s transport ministry said it has closed some air routes above the country\u2019s eastern waters until Thursday morning in the wake of the North Korean launches.<\/p>\n
That missile landed 26 kilometers (16 miles) away from the rivals\u2019 sea border. It landed in international waters off the east coast of South Korea. South Korea\u2019s military said it was the first time a North Korean missile has landed so close to the sea border since the countries\u2019 division in 1948.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is very unprecedented and we will never tolerate it,\u201d the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.<\/p>\n
In 2010, North Korea shelled a front-line South Korean island off the peninsula\u2019s western coast, killing four people. But the weapons used were artillery rockets, not ballistic missiles whose launches or tests are banned by multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions.<\/p>\n
Later Wednesday, South Korean fighter jets launched three air-to-surface, precision-guided missiles near the eastern sea border to show its determination to get tough on North Korean provocations. South Korea\u2019s military said the missiles landed in international waters at the same distance of 26 kilometers (16 miles) north of the sea border as the North Korean missile fell earlier Wednesday.<\/p>\n
It said it maintains a readiness to win \u201can overwhelming victory\u201d against North Korea in potential clashes.<\/p>\n
\u201cNorth Korea firing missiles in a way that sets off air raid sirens appears intended to threaten South Koreans to pressure their government to change policy,\u201d said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul. \u201cNorth Korea\u2019s expanding military capabilities and tests are worrisome, but offering concessions about alliance cooperation or nuclear recognition would make matters worse.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Joint Chiefs of Staff earlier identified three of the North Korean weapons launched as \u201cshort-range ballistic missiles\u201d fired from the North\u2019s eastern coastal town of Wonsan, including the one that landed near the sea border.<\/p>\n
North Korean short-range weapons are designed to strike key facilities in South Korea, including U.S. military bases there.<\/p>\n
In an emergency meeting with top security officials, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol ordered officials to take swift unspecified steps to make North Korea face consequences for its provocation. He said he would consider the North Korean missile\u2019s landing near the border \u201ca virtual violation of (our) territorial waters.\u201d<\/p>\n
During the meeting, officials also lamented that the North Korean missile launches came as South Korea is in a mourning period over the crowd crush. They noted this \u201cclearly showed the nature of the North Korean government,\u201d according to South Korea\u2019s presidential office.<\/p>\n
Earlier Wednesday, Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada said at least two ballistic missiles fired by North Korea showed a possibly \u201cirregular\u201d trajectory. This suggests the missiles were the North\u2019s highly maneuverable, nuclear-capable KN-23 missile, which was modeled on Russia\u2019s Iskander missile.<\/p>\n
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida called North Korea\u2019s continuing missile tests \u201cabsolutely impermissible.\u201d<\/p>\n
Analyst Cheong Seong-Chang at the private Sejong Institute in South Korea said the danger of armed clashes between the Koreas off their western or eastern coasts is increasing. He said South Korea needs to make \u201cproportional responses\u201d to North Korean provocations, not \u201coverwhelming responses,\u201d to prevent tensions from spiraling out of control and possibly leading the North to use its tactical nuclear weapons.<\/p>\n
Animosities on the Korean Peninsula have been running high in recent months, with North Korea testing a string of nuclear-capable missiles and adopting a law authorizing the preemptive use of its nuclear weapons in a broad range of situations. Some experts still doubt North Korea would use nuclear weapons first in the face of U.S. and South Korean forces.<\/p>\n
North Korea has argued its recent weapons tests were meant to issue a warning to Washington and Seoul over their joint military drills that it views as an invasion rehearsal, including this week\u2019s exercises.<\/p>\n
In a statement released early Wednesday, Pak Jong Chon, a secretary of the ruling Workers\u2019 Party who is considered a close confidant of leader Kim Jong Un, called the Vigilant Storm air force drills \u201caggressive and provocative.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the U.S. and South Korea attempt to use armed forces against (North Korea) without any fear, the special means of the (North\u2019s) armed forces will carry out their strategic mission without delay,\u201d Pak said, in an apparent reference to his country\u2019s nuclear weapons.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe U.S. and South Korea will have to face a terrible case and pay the most horrible price in history,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
U.S. and South Korean officials have steadfastly said their drills are defensive in nature and that they have no intentions of attacking North Korea.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe reject the notion that they serve as any sort of provocation. We have made clear that we have no hostile intent towards (North Korea) and call on them to engage in serious and sustained diplomacy,\u201d White House National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said late Tuesday.<\/p>\n
North Korea \u201ccontinues to not respond. At the same time, we will continue to work closely with our allies and partners to limit the North\u2019s ability to advance its unlawful weapons programs and threaten regional stability,\u201d Watson said.<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s Vigilant Storm military exercises are the largest-ever for the annual fall maneuvers, the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said. About 1,600 flights are planned involving 240 U.S. and South Korean fighter jets. The round-the-clock drills, which began Oct. 31, are to continue through Nov. 4 and include warfighting tactics both in the air and on the ground, it said.<\/p>\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
SEOUL, South Korea , Nov 02 (AP) \u2014 Air raid sirens sounded on a South Korean island and residents evacuated to underground shelters after North Korea fired more than 20 missiles Wednesday, at least one of them in its direction and landing near the rivals\u2019 tense sea border. South Korea quickly responded by launching its […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-203928","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203928","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=203928"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203928\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=203928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=203928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=203928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}