It was the first time a ballistic missile had landed near the South’s waters since the peninsula was divided, and the most missiles fired from the North in a single day. South Korea issued rare airstrikes warnings and fired its own missiles in response as tensions rose in the region. In response, South Korean warplanes fired three air-to-surface missiles into the sea to the north, crossing the Northern Limit Line (NLL), a disputed inter-Korean maritime border, the South’s military said. An official said the weapons used included an AGM-84H/K SLAM-ER, which is an American precision attack weapon that can fly up to 270km with a 360kg warhead. The South’s launches came after Yun’s office promised a “swift and firm response” to make North Korea “pay the price of the provocation”. “Today’s provocation by North Korea was an effective act of territorial encroachment by a missile that penetrated the NLL for the first time since [the two Koreas’] department,” Yoon’s office said.
Evacuations on a South Korean island
The North Korean weapon was one of three short-range ballistic missiles fired from the North Korean coastal region of Wonsan into the sea, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said. The JCS later said up to 14 other missiles of various types had been fired from North Korea’s east and west coasts. The JCS said at least one of the missiles landed 26 kilometers south of the NLL, 57 kilometers from the South Korean city of Sokcho, on the east coast, and 167 kilometers from Ulleung Island, where airstrike warnings were issued. “We heard the siren around 8:55 am. and all of us in the building went down to the evacuation point in the basement,” an Ulleung County official told Reuters. “We stayed there until we went upstairs around 9:15 after we heard the missile hit the open sea.” North Korean leader Kim Jong-un oversees a missile launch at an undisclosed location in North Korea, in this undated photo released Oct. 10 by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). (Korea Central News Agency/Reuters) A resident in the southern part of the island said they received no warning. The North also fired more than 100 artillery rounds from its east coast into a military buffer zone set up under a military accord with the South, South Korea’s military said. The dismissal violates the 2018 agreement, JCS said. Hours later, North Korea fired six more missiles from its east and west coasts, South Korea’s military said. Japan’s coast guard also said North Korea fired at least one probable short-range ballistic missile to the east, which flew at an “extremely low altitude below 50km maximum”.
Angry from joint exercises
Nuclear-armed North Korea has tested a record number of missiles this year, and officials in Seoul and Washington say the North has completed technical preparations to conduct a nuclear weapons test for the first time since 2017. The launches came hours after Pyongyang asked the United States and South Korea to halt large-scale military exercises, saying such “military provocations and provocations can no longer be tolerated.” WATCHES | Canada’s Joly calls for peace on the Korean Peninsula:
Mélanie Joly travels to Korea’s demilitarized zone, calls for peace
Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly made a special visit to the demilitarized zone that separates the two Koreas in a diplomatic gesture as tensions continue to rise in the region. North Korea has been testing missiles for weeks, putting the region on edge. The United States and South Korea began one of their largest combined air exercises on Monday. Called Vigilant Storm, the exercises involve hundreds of warplanes from both sides carrying out virtual attacks 24 hours a day. North Korea had said a recent flurry of launches was in response to allied exercises. Park Yong-chon, secretary of the Central Committee of North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party, said in a statement on Wednesday that the number of warplanes involved in Vigilant Storm proved the exercise was “aggressive and provocative” and specifically targeted North Korea. “Countless moves by enemy forces for military conflict have created a serious situation on the Korean Peninsula,” Park said in a statement carried by the state-run KCNA news agency. On Tuesday in Washington, State Department spokesman Ned Price said the drills were “purely defensive in nature” and that the United States had made clear to North Korea that it had no hostile intent toward the country. Front Burner28:18 Lessons from the Cuban Missile Crisis Sixty years ago, the Cuban Missile Crisis brought the world as close as it has ever been to full-scale nuclear war. The story often told about those 13 days is one that the Americans might have triumphed over the USSR — but that didn’t actually happen. The true story of this crisis is actually about a relationship between two men who decided to secretly work together to prevent a global catastrophe. While we’re certainly not in the midst of another Cuban missile crisis today, experts believe this is the closest the US and Russia have come to a nuclear conflict since then. Today, then, we will tell the story of those 13 days in 1962 and see if they can teach lessons for today. Our guest is Andrew Cohen, professor at Carleton University’s School of Journalism and Communication, and author of several books, including Two Days in June: John F. Kennedy and the 48 Hours That Made History.
US and Japan condemn the tests
In a phone call with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin called North Korea’s missile launch “unprecedented” and a “serious act of military provocation”. The two officials condemned the launch and agreed to cooperate against North Korean threats, Park’s office said in a statement. South Korea’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said that due to the launches, some air routes over the sea between North Korea and Japan will remain closed until Thursday morning. Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada also condemned the launches, saying North Korea’s actions threaten the peace and stability of Japan, the wider region, as well as the wider international community and are completely unacceptable. “North Korea has repeatedly launched missiles at an unprecedented rate, in new ways that we have never seen before,” he said.
