North Korea fired multiple ballistic missiles on Tuesday morning. The launch is the second of the year for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, which last did a missile test on January 6, when Secretary of State Antony Blinken was visiting Seoul, South Korea. Tuesday's rocket launch was first reported by South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The JCS said that the communist country fired “several short-range ballistic missiles” from the Kanggye area of the North’s Chagang Province at around 9:30 a.m. local time, according to reports. The rockets traveled approximately 155 miles before landing in the Sea of Japan, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said. The launch comes less than a week before the presidential inauguration of Donald Trump.
"South Korea-U.S. intelligence authorities were monitoring North Korea's missile launch preparations in advance, and immediately detected and tracked them upon launch," the JCS said.
South Korean government officials denounced the launch and called it another provocation. It is the third missile test by North Korea since November 5, the day of the U.S. presidential election.
"North Korea's missile launch is a clear provocative act that seriously threatens the peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula, and we strongly condemn it," South Korean officials said.
“We strongly condemn the launch as a clear provocation that seriously threatens the peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula,” said the JCS.
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South Korea is embroiled in political controversy after the country’s president, Yoon Suk Yeol, declared martial law on December 3, 2024. The country’s government overturned the ruling and canceled it six hours later. On December 14, Yeol was impeached by the South Korean National Assembly. Government and security officials in the country warned that North Korea could be looking to take advantage of geopolitical pursuits in the area, given South Korea’s current political instability.
"Our military is closely monitoring North Korea's various movements under a strong U.S.-South Korea joint defense posture to prevent North Korea from miscalculating in the current security situation, and is maintaining the ability and posture to overwhelmingly respond to any provocation," warned the JCS.