North Korea on Saturday fired four short-range ballistic missiles into the sea on Saturday. South Korean military detected the missile launch noting that North Korea had made weapons launches earlier in the week. North Korea fired the four missiles after the United States and South Korea conducted joint air force drills, the North considered “aggressive and provocative”.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff of South Korea in a statement declared: “The South Korean military detected four short-range ballistic missiles launched by North Korea from Tonrim, North Pyongan Province, to the West Sea at around 11.32 a.m. to 11.59 a.m. today.
Their “flight distance was detected at about 130 km (80 miles), an altitude of about 20km, and a speed of about Mach 5”. It was noted that Mach 5 represents five times the speed of sound.
The Joint Chief of Staff maintained that South Korean and US intelligence are conducting further analysis on the launches.
The joint military drill, named Vigilant Storm, was originally scheduled for Monday to Friday, but the US and South Korea had cautioned that North Korea’s missile launches could lead to a nuclear test, thus, they extended their air force drills to Saturday in response.
North Korea provoked by the action fired the missile to demonstrate the country’s armament capacity for international war.
It noted that North Korean had previously launched intercontinental ballistic missile that landed near South Korea’s territorial waters for the first time since the end of the Korean War in 1953.
The US Air Force had deployed two B-1B long-range heavy bombers on the final day of the drill to demonstrate a show of force, which North Korea responded to in a counter show of Force.