North Korea fires several ballistic missiles into sea after U.S. and South Korea begin military drills
North Korea fired several ballistic missiles into the sea on Monday, hours after South Korean and U.S. troops kicked off their large annual combined drills.
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea fired several ballistic missiles into the sea Monday, South Korea’s military said, hours after South Korean and U.S. troops kicked off their large annual combined drills, which the North views as an invasion rehearsal.
South Korea’s joint chiefs of staff said the missile firings, North Korea’s fifth missile launch event this year, were detected from the North’s Hwanghae province but gave no further details such as how far they flew. It said South Korea bolstered its surveillance posture and is closely coordinating with the United States.
Earlier Monday, the South Korean and U.S. militaries began their annual joint military exercises, which are scheduled to last 11 days. The Freedom Shield command post exercise began after the South Korean and U.S. militaries paused live-fire training while Seoul investigates how two of its fighter jets mistakenly bombed a civilian area during a warm-up drill last week.
The drill's start drew the condemnation of nuclear-armed North Korea, which issued a government statement calling the exercises a “dangerous provocative act” that increases the risks of military conflict.
About 30 people were injured, two of them seriously, when two South Korean KF-16 fighter jets mistakenly fired eight MK-82 bombs on a civilian area in Pocheon, a town near the North Korean border, on Thursday. The bombing occurred while South Korean and U.S. forces were engaging in a live-fire drill ahead of the larger Freedom Shield exercise.
Rating: 5