Air-raid sirens sounded across South Korea after the North fired a dozen missiles in its direction on Wednesday, at least one of which landed near the rivals’ tense sea border.
The launches come hours after North Korea threatened to use nuclear weapons to make the United States and South Korea “pay the most horrible price in history” as it has intensified its fiery rhetoric regarding ongoing military drills. on a large scale among its rivals.
The South Korean military said North Korea launched more than 10 missiles of various types off its eastern and western coasts.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement early Wednesday that it detected three short-range ballistic missiles fired from the eastern coastal city of Wonsan. He said one of the missiles landed 26 kilometers (16 miles) from the rivals’ sea border.
The landing site is in international waters, but still well south of the extent of the nations border. The South Korean military said it was the first time a North Korean missile had landed so close to the sea border since the countries were divided in 1948.
In 2010, North Korea fired artillery shells at a frontline South Korean island and allegedly torpedoed a South Korean navy ship, both off the western coast of the peninsula, killing a total of 50 people.
“This is unprecedented and we will never tolerate it,” South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.
The landing site of the North Korean missile is also 167 kilometers northwest of the South Korean island of Ulleung, where an air warning was issued at the time.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff said South Korea will not tolerate North Korea’s provocations and will firmly deal with them in close coordination with the United States. He said that South Korea has strengthened its surveillance posture on North Korea.
Tempers on the Korean peninsula have soared in recent months as North Korea has tested a series of nuclear-capable missiles and passed a law authorizing the preemptive use of its nuclear weapons in a wide range of situations. Some experts remain doubtful that North Korea can first use nuclear weapons against US and South Korean forces.
North Korea has argued its recent weapons tests were intended to send a warning to Washington and Seoul over their series of joint military exercises it sees as an invasion drill, including exercises this week involving some 240 warplanes.
In a statement released early Wednesday, Pak Jong Chon, secretary of the ruling Workers’ Party and considered a close confidant of leader Kim Jong Un, called the air force exercises called Storm Watcher “aggressive and provocative.”
Pak also accused the Pentagon of formulating a collapse of the North Korean regime as a primary political goal, in an apparent reference to the Pentagon’s recently released National Defense Strategy report. The report stated that any nuclear attack by North Korea against the United States or its allies and partners “will result in the end of that regime.”
The president criticized South Korea’s military leaders for what he called “garbage” comments that threatened to destroy North Korea if it used nuclear weapons.
The South Korean military has warned North Korea that using its nuclear weapons would put it on a “path of self-destruction.”
“If the United States and South Korea try to use the armed forces against (North Korea) without any fear, the special means of the (North) armed forces will carry out their strategic mission without delay,” Pak said, in an apparent reference to his country’s nuclear weapons.
“The United States and South Korea will have to face a terrible case and pay the most horrible price in history,” he said.
US and South Korean officials have firmly stated that their drills are defensive in nature and that they have no intention of attacking North Korea.
The White House on Tuesday disputed North Korea’s saber rattling, reiterating that the drills were part of a routine training program with South Korea.
“We reject the idea that they serve as any kind of provocation. We have made it clear that we have no hostile intent toward (North Korea) and ask them to engage in serious and sustained diplomacy,” White House National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said.
North Korea “remains unanswered. At the same time, we will continue to work closely with our allies and partners to limit the North’s ability to advance its illegal weapons programs and threaten regional stability,” Watson said.
