South Korea’s presidential office has strongly criticized North Korea for launching more than 10 short-range ballistic missiles and has instructed its military to remain fully prepared during the ongoing joint exercises with the United States. An emergency security meeting was held with officials from the Defence Ministry and military authorities after North Korea fired the missiles from the Pyongyang area towards the eastern sea of the Korean Peninsula. The presidential office stated that this ballistic missile launch is a serious violation of UN Security Council resolutions and has called on North Korea to cease such actions immediately.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff reported that the missiles flew approximately 300 kilometers towards the sea. This missile barrage occurred following the announcement of scaling back the 11-day Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises by both South Korea and the U.S., as directed by U.S. President Donald Trump. Trump cited his positive relationship with North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un and South Korea’s non-support in the U.S.’s actions against Iran as reasons for reducing the military exercise.
Kim Yo Jong, the spokesperson for the North Korean regime and Kim Jong Un’s sister, dismissed Trump’s gesture of reducing the exercises, stating that the provocative nature of the drills remains unchanged. She emphasized that the recent reduction in the drills does not alter their aggressive nature. Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, mentioned that the missile launch likely aimed to convey various messages, including opposition to the South Korea-U.S. military exercises and a warning against speculation on Pyongyang’s security affairs.
During Trump’s presidency, he has questioned the cost of maintaining U.S. troops in South Korea, despite the cost-sharing agreement between the two countries. Japan also reported North Korea firing a ballistic missile towards the sea, and China’s Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, encouraged South Korea to maintain a neutral stance between Beijing and Washington, advocating for peaceful coexistence on the Korean Peninsula.