North Korea announced that its latest missile exercises were a practice of striking on US military bases, located in Japan.
Photo: AP / Lee Jin-man
North Korea announced that a day before, the country conducted missile exercises on striking on US military bases, located in Japan, the South Korean Yonhap news agency reported on Tuesday.
As Yonhap reported, citing the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the last missile drills were aimed at testing of an ability of the Hwaseong military unit to quickly react in the event of war. The military unit’s tasks include carrying out of strikes on US military bases, located in Japan.
Reportedly, North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un personally supervised the current exercises.
Earlier, North Korea launched four missiles, three of which fell near the coast of Japan. South Korean military suggested that ballistic missiles, which were launched from the north-western coast of the North Korea, reached an altitude of 260 kilometers.
The missile drills in North Korea coincided with military exercises of the US and South Korea.
Amid this incident, the US Pacific Command announced the US started to deploy the first elements of its advanced anti-missile defense system in South Korea.
“Continued provocative actions by North Korea, to include yesterday’s launch of multiple missiles, only confirm the prudence of our alliance decision last year to deploy THAAD [Terminal High Altitude Area Defense] to South Korea,” the Reuters news agency quoted words of US Pacific Commander Admiral Harry Harris.
Meanwhile, the White House also announced that Washington will hasten its deployment of its advanced missile system to South Korea.
“The Trump administration is taking steps to enhance our ability to defend against North Korea’s ballistic missiles such as through the deployment of a THAAD battery to South Korea,” spokesman for the White House, Sean Spicer, said.
Also on Tuesday, US President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held a telephone conversation, during which they agreed that the threat from North Korea had “entered a new stage.”
After the conversation, the Japanese Prime Minister said that the two countries confirmed that the tests were a violation of UN Security Council resolutions, as well as were a “clear challenge to the region and international community.”
“President Trump said the United States is 100 percent with Japan and he told me to convey his remarks to the Japanese people…He said he wanted us to trust him and the United States 100 percent,” Abe added.
Meanwhile, on Monday, the UN Security Council announced that a meeting on the North Korean missile tests will be held on the request of the US and Japan on Wednesday.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres also criticized the tests, calling on North Korea to “refrain from further provocations.”