Seoul, South Korea — North Korea fired about 10 ballistic missiles toward the East Sea on Saturday, South Korea’s military said, in its own show of force as the rival South conducts joint military exercises with the United States.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missiles were fired from an area near the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, but did not immediately say how far they flew. Japan’s defense ministry said the weapons landed in waters outside the country’s exclusive economic zone.
The South’s joint chiefs said the military has increased surveillance and is maintaining readiness against possible additional launches while closely sharing information with the US and Japan.
The launches come as the US and South Korean militaries conduct their annual spring exercises involving thousands of troops, while the Trump administration continues to wage an escalating war in the Middle East.
The war has raised concerns about potential security lapses in South Korea, as local media – citing security camera footage and other images – speculated that the US was moving some missile defense assets based in the country to support operations against Iran.
When The Associated Press asked this week whether US Forces Korea was moving interceptor missiles from its Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, system at Seongju to the Middle East, President Lee Jae-myung’s office said it could not confirm details about US military operations.
The office said the potential relocation of US military assets would not affect allies’ defense posture against a nuclear-armed North Korea, but cited South Korea’s conventional military strength. It earlier issued a similar response to reports about the possible deployment of Patriot missile defense systems by South Korea.
North Korea has described the allied exercises as invasion rehearsals and often uses it as a pretext to dial down its own military demonstrations or weapons tests.
In previous years the North has conducted several salvo launches of missiles or artillery against targets in South Korea in what it describes as simulations of nuclear strikes.
The launches came days after the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un criticized Washington and Seoul on Tuesday for continuing their drills at a dangerous moment for global security and warned that any challenge to the North’s security would have “dire consequences”.
Without directly mentioning the Iran war, Kim Yo Jong said the US-South Korean drills undermine regional stability at a time when the global security structure is “rapidly collapsing and wars are breaking out in various parts of the world due to the reckless acts of rampant international rogues.”
North Korea’s foreign ministry released separate statements condemning the joint US-Israeli attack on Iran and expressing support for Tehran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei.
The 11-day Freedom Shield exercise, which runs through March 19, is one of two annual command post exercises conducted by the militaries of the United States and South Korea. The mostly computer-simulated drills are designed to test the allies’ joint operational capabilities, while incorporating evolving war scenarios and security challenges. A field training program called Warrior Shield will be held along with Freedom Shield.
North Korea has repeatedly rejected calls from Washington and Seoul to resume diplomacy aimed at halting its nuclear program. Talks derailed in 2019 after the collapse of a second summit with US President Donald Trump during Kim Jong Un’s first term.
Kim has made Russia his foreign policy priority, sending thousands of troops and large amounts of military equipment to support Moscow’s war in Ukraine, possibly in exchange for aid and military technology.
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AP journalists Yuri Kageyama and Mayuko Ono contributed from Tokyo.
(tags to translate)Iran War
