Seoul (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – North Korea launched multiple ballistic missiles, hours after criticising the South Korean and U.S. troops for conducting drills that Pyongyang called a “dangerous provocative act” that risked accidentally provoking a confrontation.
South Korean forces reported the missiles were launched from North Korea’s west coast into the Yellow Sea. The test was the first reported ballistic missile test since the inauguration of U.S. President Donald Trump in January.
The allies’ annual Freedom Shield drills are planned to run until March 20, although live-fire drills remain stopped after South Korean jets mistakenly fired bombs on a civilian town near the border last week, wounding 29. The South Korean military has stated the joint drills seek to boost the readiness of the partnership for threats such as North Korea.
Why does North Korea see the drills as a provocation?
North Korea has asked for U.S.-South Korea joint exercises to be suspended, calling them a prelude to an invasion.
“This is a dangerous provocative act of leading the acute situation on the Korean peninsula, which may spark off a physical conflict between the two sides by means of an accidental single shot, to the extreme point,”
North Korea’s foreign ministry stated, according to state media outlet KCNA.
Why did South Korea fire missiles in January 2025?
There was an earlier report this year that, on January 2025, North Korea launched a ballistic missile into the sea as the highest-ranking United States official was holding meetings in the South Korean capital, Seoul.
The South Korean military reported the missile was launched eastward just after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with South Korean Acting President Choi Sang-mok.
“Our military detected one projectile presumed to be an intermediate-range ballistic missile,”
The military said.
The missile seemed to have fallen into the water, according to Japan. Seoul was
“in close coordination with the US and Japan”
about the launch, the South’s military also said.
