For the first time in two months, North Korea is reported to have fired short-range ballistic missiles into the sea today, Monday. This is happening amid Antony Blinken’s visit to Seoul to be in attendance of a conference on advancing democracy hosted by South Korea’s President, Yoon Supreme Yeol.
With a distance of 300km after being fired between 7:44am and 8:22am (2244 to 2322 GMT Monday), South Korea’s military said the several short-range missiles flew from Pyongyang, landing off the east coast.
South Korea’s military says the act to be a “clear provocation”, which they further confirmed their alliance of information sharing with Japan and the U.S.
Japanese PM, Fumio Kishida also condemned the act which Japanese Coast guard confirmed the launch of those missiles which they later detected a second ballistic shot as it is outside North Korea’s economic zone.
“North Korea’s series of actions threaten the peace and security of our region and the international community, and are absolutely unacceptable,” Kishida said.
Blinken is to attend the Summit for Democracy, an initiative of U.S President, Joe Biden which is aimed at discussing ways to stop democratic backsliding and erosion of rights and freedoms worldwide.
The summit would also have South Korea’s foreign minister, Cho Tae-yul and other World Leaders in attendance.
This can be said to be the second of North Korea’s ballistic launch after January 14 which it described as an intermediate range hypersonic missile using fuel on to test new booster engines and a maneuverable warhead.