Priya Aditi
North Korea tests two missiles into the waters off its east coast in retaliation for the US deploy a nuclear armed submarine in a South Korean port for the first time in nearly four decades.
North Korea discharged two short-range ballistic missiles from a site near Pyongyang’s international airport between 3:30 and 3:46 a.m. on Wednesday, according to Yonhap News Agency, citing South Korean military officials. The missiles travelled approximately 550 kilometres (340 miles), as reported by Yonhap.
The launch escalated tensions on the peninsula after the USS Kentucky, a ballistic missile submarine of the Ohio-class, arrived in the South Korean port of Busan on Tuesday and North Korea detained an American soldier who crossed the border from the south side of a joint truce village in the Joint Security Area.
The deployment of the submarines was timed to coincide with the first meeting of a new US-South Korea body that seeks to prevent North Korea from deploying its nuclear arsenal.
The Nuclear Consultative Group developed out of a summit between President Joe Biden and his South Korean counterpart Yoon Suk Yeol in April in Washington. Yoon Suk Yeol has sought to bring South Korea closer to the United States, including in defence matters.
The group aims to give South Korea a greater say in how the United States deploys its nuclear umbrella and provide assurances that it will be used to respond to a North Korean attack.
There is no ‘Immediate Threat’
The US Indo-Pacific Command stated that it was aware of North Korea’s missile launches and was coordinating with allies and partners. “While we have assessed that these events do not pose an immediate threat to US personnel or territory, or to our allies, the missile launches highlight the destabilising impact of the DPRK’s illicit weapons programme,” the command said in a statement, referring to North Korea by its abbreviated name.
North Korea has objected to the United States’ deployment of nuclear assets in the region and demanded an end to all submarine deployments. In addition, it has called the Nuclear Consultative Group a “nuclear war tool.”
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Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, said in a statement released Monday by state media, “The US should be aware that its enhanced extended deterrence system and excessively extended military alliance system, a threatening entity, will only push the DPRK further away from the negotiating table.”
