North Korea fired at least one ballistic missile over the Sea of Japan on Thursday, Seoul’s military said, after Pyongyang lambasted Tokyo for beefing up its military stance in the Pacific.
“North Korea fires unidentified projectile toward East Sea,” South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said in a message to news organizations, referring to the body of water also known as the Sea of Japan.
“Our military detected a short-range ballistic missile launched from the Wonsan area of North Korea at around 5:00 pm (0800 GMT),” the JCS later added.
The latest launch came a day after Pyongyang accused Japan of “transformation into a war state” as Tokyo beefs up its military stance in the Pacific.
Japan’s Defense Ministry also posted on X that “something that may be a ballistic missile has been launched from North Korea.” A separate post shortly afterwards said, “there is no longer any impact on the areas around Japan”.
Tokyo’s Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said earlier this week that Japan’s military needs to be boosted with a “sense of urgency and crisis”, as a new government assessment warned of growing threats from China, Russia and North Korea.
In a statement carried by North Korean state media on Wednesday, Kim Yo Jong — the powerful sister of leader Kim Jong Un — said Pyongyang’s “leadership will set up additional military options which are obviously due to Japan’s transformation”.
North Korea has repeatedly declared itself an “irreversible” nuclear state since leader Kim Jong Un’s 2019 summit with US President Donald Trump collapsed over the scope of denuclearization and sanctions relief. (AFP)
