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Tokyo, Japan (CNN) Japan’s defense ministry said North Korea launched a “suspected ballistic missile” on Sunday.
The news follows a series of missile tests by North Korea, which fired a long-range ballistic missile at a meeting between South Korean and Japanese leaders in Tokyo on Thursday, and two cruise missiles and two cruise missiles from a submarine days earlier. Two short-range ballistic missiles were launched. .
The Japan Coast Guard said in a statement at 11:20 a.m. local time that the missile launched on Sunday appeared to have landed.
All vessels have been warned to await further information. Stay away from falling objects. Report anything suspicious.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) also said it detected one short-range ballistic missile fired from the Dongchang-ri area of North Pyongan Province in North Korea at around 11:05 a.m. local time.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff said the military had stepped up surveillance and vigilance in preparation for additional launches “while maintaining full readiness through close cooperation with the United States.”
Pyongyang’s latest test coincides with spring joint military exercises between the United States and South Korea, the largest military exercises the allies have staged in five years.
Ahead of the 11-day Freedom Shield exercise, North Korea threatened to take “the toughest counterattack against the most nefarious conspiracies of the United States and its supporters.”
Sunday’s ballistic missile launch came a day after North Korea claimed about 800,000 of its citizens had volunteered to join or reenlist in its military to fight the United States.
Rodong Sinmun reported on Saturday that about 800,000 students and workers across the country expressed their desire to join or re-enlist in the military to stand against the United States on Friday alone.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has accused the United States and South Korea of heightening tensions with military exercises.
North Korea often responds to what it sees as “provocations” by the United States by making belligerence threats. Experts say U.S. President Joe Biden will welcome Yun and his wife to the White House next month, along with joint military exercises and meetings with South Korean President Yoon Seok-yeol and Japanese President Fumio Kishida this week. It is said that an exception was made to the plan.
The state visit, the second since President Biden took office and underscores the close relationship between the United States and South Korea, is scheduled for April 26. Likewise, Biden has sought to nurture the relationship, including the iconic marker of his visit to Seoul in May 2022.
Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha Womans University in Seoul, recently told CNN that in response to training and summits, North Korea “ordered longer-range missile launches, attempted to launch spy satellites, It has demonstrated a fuel engine and may even conduct a nuclear test.”
In an earlier report from CNN’s Kawon Bae
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