North Korean missile forces conducted another ballistic missile test early on Friday morning (local time) after their warplanes buzzed the South Korean border.
The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff announced the North Korean missile launch in a statement provided to the South Korean Yonhap News Agency. As with other ballistic missile tests this month, North Korea fired the missile eastward, toward the Sea of Japan.
The latest launch prompted Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s office to issue warnings to the Japanese people.
South Korea’s military was already on alert before the latest North Korean missile launch because North Korea had also flown warplanes near their border late on Thursday night and early Friday morning, the Associated Press reported. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said South Korean fighter jets were scrambled in response to the North Korean aerial activity near the border.
According to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, the North Korean warplanes flew within seven miles of the demilitarized zone (DMZ), which serves as the border between North and South Korea.
North Korea has already carried out multiple missile tests earlier this month, including launching two as U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris visited the DMZ and another missile that flew over Japan just days later.
U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price condemned North Korea’s other recent missile tests during a Wednesday press briefing. Price said the U.S. and its allies and partners would continue to impose sanctions on North Korea.
“We will continue to hold responsible those who are overseeing the DPRK’s WMD and nuclear weapons programs, Those who are in a position to support this program, who may be helping the DPRK systematically evade sanctions that have already been announced” Price said, referring to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the formal name of the North Korean government. “This is something that we are doing with our own authorities, and just within recent days we have announced additional sanctions targeting the DPRK’s WMD and ballistic missile programs.”
