North Korea Tests Missiles, Says US Actions Justify Its Nuclear Buildup

Seoul – North Korea fired a salvo of short-range ballistic missiles early Tuesday, Seoul’s military said. It was Pyongyang’s second launch in as many days and came hours earlier Americans had to vote for a new president.

The North with nuclear weapons last week test firing what it said was the most advanced and powerful solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). This was Kim Jong Un’s first weapons test since he was accused by US and Ukrainian officials to send troops to help support Russia on a large scale the invasion of Ukraine.

north koreawhich has denied the deployment, is under increasing international pressure to withdraw its troops from Russia, with Seoul warning on Tuesday that thousands of troops were deployed in frontline areas, including Russia’s Kursk region, where Ukrainian troops pushed into follow. .

The Joint Chiefs of Staff in Seoul said it detected the launch of “several short-range ballistic missiles” around 7:30 a.m. Tuesday (5:30 p.m. Eastern, Monday) in waters east of the Korean peninsula. The missiles flew about 248 miles, and Seoul’s military said it watched the launch in real time while sharing information with Tokyo and Washington.

“In preparation for additional launches, our military has strengthened surveillance and vigilance,” he added. Meanwhile, Seoul was set to receive more US help in monitoring the North’s missile launches, with the State Department in Washington announcing on Monday the approval of a new military aid package worth nearly $5 billion.

This package includes the potential sale of airborne early warning and control systems to South Korea, with the approval of four E-7 early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft, 10 jet engines and other systems and support elements, for a total of estimate. cost of 4.92 billion dollars.

The early warning and control aircraft, known as Wedgetails, would allow South Korea to detect missiles and other threats faster and from greater distances than ground-based radar systems.

“This proposed sale will enhance the Republic of Korea’s ability to meet current and future threats by providing enhanced intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) and airborne early warning and control capabilities,” the State Department said. “It will also enhance the command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR) interoperability of the Republic of Korea Air Force with the United States.”

On Sunday, South Korea, Japan and the United States conducted a joint air exercise involving a US B-1B bomber, South Korean F-15K and KF-16 fighter jets and Japanese F-2 jets in response to the launch ICBM. Such joint exercises infuriate Pyongyang, which sees them as rehearsals for invasion.

Pyongyang called its latest launch “a direct response to the weekend’s trilateral air exercises,” Han Kwon-hee of the Korea Defense Industry Studies Association told AFP. “Given that there was a barrage of short-range missiles, the North indicates that it not only has long-range missiles capable of reaching the US, but also short-range missiles to target all bases in South Korea and Japan”.

Kim Yo Jongthe country’s leader’s sister and a key spokesperson, called the US-South Korea-Japan drills an “action-based explanation of the enemy’s most hostile and dangerously aggressive nature toward our Republic.”

In a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency on Tuesday, she said the exercise was “absolute proof of the validity and urgency of the nuclear force-building line we have opted for and put into practice.”

Seoul has long accused the nuclear-armed North of sending weapons to help Moscow fight Kiev and has claimed Pyongyang has moved to deploy troops en masse since Kim signed a mutual defense agreement with Russian President Vladimir Little in June.

“Over 10,000 North Korean soldiers are currently in Russiaand we assess that a significant portion of them are deployed in frontline areas, including Kursk,” South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman Jeon Ha-gyu said on Tuesday.

Seoul, a major arms exporter, said it was reviewing whether to send arms directly to Ukraine in response, something it has previously resisted due to long-standing domestic policy that prevents it from providing weapons in active conflicts.

With a recent series of tests, “Pyongyang is showing that its contribution of arms and troops to Russia’s war in Ukraine is not limiting its military activities closer to home,” said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul. “On the contrary, cooperation with Moscow appears to allow flagrant violations of UN Security Council resolutions.”

On Monday, Robert Wood, the US deputy ambassador to the UN, criticized the North’s advanced ballistic missile program and said Russia and China were preventing the UN from holding Pyongyang accountable.

Beijing and Moscow “have repeatedly protected the DPRK, helping to normalize these tests and encouraging the DPRK to further violate the sanctions and resolutions of this Council,” he said, referring to the North by its official name.

Speaking in Moscow on Tuesday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko said the North’s missile tests were a justified reaction to US “provocations”, according to Russian state news agency TASS.

The end of an era for San Francisco’s iconic airport walkways

What Colonial Williamsburg Can Teach Us About Politics Today

The Unintended Consequences of Texas’ Strict Abortion Laws | 60 minutes