North Korea test-fires ballistic missile ahead of US-South Korea drills

North Korea has test-fired a short-range ballistic missile in its latest show of force just days before the start of large-scale joint military exercises between South Korea and the United States.

According to the news agency ‘AFP’, the relationship between North and South Korea is at the worst level in the past several decades. In view of the increasing security cooperation between South Korea and the United States, North Korea, armed with nuclear weapons, has provoked more than before. Experiments with prohibited weapons have been carried out.

Last year, Kim Jong-un’s government declared North Korea a nuclear power and vowed to rapidly increase production of all types of weapons, including nuclear weapons, as the United States moves more assets to the region to defend its ally Seoul. .

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said they detected the launch of a short-range ballistic missile from the North’s western port city of Nampo at 6:20 p.m.

“We are analyzing the possibility that North Korea has fired multiple short-range ballistic missiles from the same area at the same time,” he added.

He said that our army is fully prepared in close cooperation with the US as we have strengthened the surveillance system.

North Korea has long maintained that its nuclear weapons and missile programs are for self-defense, and has described military exercises between the U.S. and South Korea as an attack drill.

Earlier this week, North Korea accused the U.S. of deliberately escalating tensions, saying Kim Jong-un’s powerful sister warned it would be a declaration of war if the U.S. stopped any of Pyongyang’s missile tests. will go

A glimmer of hope for diplomacy has faded since talks between Kim and then-US President Donald Trump collapsed in 2019 and North Korea began doubling its military strength.

South Korean President Yoon Seok-yul has boosted diplomatic ties and security cooperation with Japan and the US in response to growing threats from North Korea.

US President Joe Biden will host a state visit to Yun on April 26, and the South Korean leader will also visit Tokyo next week.

This month, the US and South Korean forces will hold joint exercises, the largest in five years.

Ahead of the 10-day combat exercise called Freedom Shield, which began on March 10, the allies held aerial exercises this week involving nuclear-capable US B-52 heavy bombers.

Leif Eric Eisley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul, said this is likely just the beginning of a series of provocative tests by North Korea.

He said that North Korea is ready to respond aggressively to major defense exercises by the US and South Korea, as well as to President Yoon’s upcoming summits with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and US President Joe Biden. .