North Korea launches short-range ballistic missiles ahead of US elections

Hours before the presidential election in the United States, North Korea fired several short-range ballistic missiles toward the East Sea on Tuesday, a development confirmed by the militaries of both South Korea and Japan, according to local media.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected the launch at about 7:30 a.m. from the Sariwon area of ​​the western province of North Hwanghae, just south of the capital Pyongyang, Yonhap news agency reported.

The missiles reportedly flew up to 400 km after taking off from Sarivon.

“While strengthening our military’s surveillance and vigilance in preparation for additional launches, we are sharing North Korean ballistic missile data with U.S. and Japanese authorities,” the JCS said in a text message, the Seoul-based news outlet reported. Maintaining full preparation.”

Meanwhile, the Japanese Defense Ministry said North Korea had launched a ballistic missile and it appeared to have already fallen, state media Kyodo reported.

The North Korean missile launches came just hours before the US vote between Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and her Republican rival Donald Trump.

On October 31, Pyongyang launched its new Hwasong-19 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), which is theoretically capable of reaching the US mainland – the East Sea.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un “expressed great satisfaction” at the test of the “final version” of the ICBM and said his/her country’s “hegemonic position” in the development of nuclear delivery means is “absolutely irreversible”. Official Korean Central News Agency.

KCNA said Kim, who observed the test firing at the site, pledged that his/her country would “never change” its stance on strengthening its nuclear forces.

Subsequently, South Korea, the United States and Japan conducted joint air exercises over waters east of the southern island of Jeju, involving US B-1B bombers.

The military said the trilateral drills were held Sunday at an airfield north of South Korea’s southern island of Jeju, according to Yonhap news outlet. The three countries had conducted a similar exercise earlier this year.