North Korea fired a short-range ballistic missile on Thursday, Seoul\u2019s military said, Pyongyang\u2019s latest show of force just days before South Korea and the United States kick off major joint military exercises.
\nRelations between the two Koreas are at one of their worst points in decades, with the nuclear-armed North conducting ever more provocative banned weapons tests as Seoul moved to ramp up security cooperation with Washington in response.
\nLast year, Kim Jong Un\u2019s regime declared North Korea an \u201cirreversible\u201d nuclear power and vowed to exponentially increase weapons production, including tactical nuclear weapons, as the US looks to move more assets to the region to defend ally Seoul.
\nSeoul\u2019s Joint Chiefs of Staff said that it \u201cdetected the launch of one short-range ballistic missile from the North\u2019s western port city of Nampo at 6:20pm (0920 GMT)\u201d.
\nIt added it was analysing \u201cthe possibility that North Korea fired multiple short-range ballistic missiles from the same region simultaneously\u201d.
\n\u201cOur military maintains a full readiness posture while closely cooperating with the US as we have strengthened surveillance and vigilance,\u201d it said.
\nNorth Korea has long claimed its nuclear weapons and missile programmes are for self-defence, and has bristled over US-South Korea military exercises, describing them as rehearsals for an invasion.
\nEarlier this week, North Korea accused the US of \u201cintentionally\u201d ramping up tensions, and Kim\u2019s powerful sister warned that if the US were to intercept one of Pyongyang\u2019s missile tests, it would be seen as a \u201cclear declaration of war\u201d.
\nAfter talks between Kim and then-US president Donald Trump collapsed in 2019, diplomacy has stalled and the North has doubled down on military development.
\nSouth Korea\u2019s hawkish President Yoon Suk Yeol has moved to boost diplomatic ties and security cooperation with Tokyo and Washington in response to growing threats from Pyongyang.
\nUS President Joe Biden will host Yoon for a state visit on April 26, and the South Korean leader will also visit Tokyo next week, his office said.
\nThis month, the US and South Korean militaries will hold their largest joint drills in five years.
\nAhead of those exercises, named \u201cFreedom Shield\u201d and scheduled for at least 10 days starting March 13, the allies held air drills this week featuring a nuclear-capable US B-52 heavy bomber.
\n\u201cThis is likely only the beginning of a series of provocative tests by North Korea,\u201d said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul.
\n\u201cPyongyang is poised to respond aggressively to major US-South Korea defence exercises, as well as to President Yoon\u2019s upcoming summits with (Japan\u2019s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and US President Joe Biden),\u201d he said.
\n\u201cThe Kim regime may order missile firings of longer ranges, attempt a spy satellite launch, demonstrate a solid-fuel engine, and perhaps even conduct a nuclear test.\u201d
\nNorth Korea has framed its missile tests and military drills as justified countermeasures following US-South Korea drills.
\nLast week, it called on the United Nations to urge a halt to these exercises, and reiterated that its nuclear weapons ensured the balance of power in the region.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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