“It made me jump, but then I saw it was a missile and I thought to myself, ‘North Koreans are crazy,’” he said. “I carried on as normal. There was nothing I could do and the chances of being hit by the missile were slim, so I went to work.” The early military drills come as South Korea steps up military exercises with the US amid rising tensions in the region and predictions that Pyongyang may be preparing for a seventh nuclear test. South Korea, Japan and the US held anti-submarine drills last Friday – the first in five years – days after Washington and Seoul held large-scale drills in waters off the peninsula, angering Pyongyang, which views such drills as as an invasion rehearsal. US President Joe Biden reiterated Washington’s “ironclad commitment” to Japan’s defense during a phone call with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Tuesday, the White House said in a statement. The two leaders condemned the missile test and affirmed that they would work closely with South Korea and the international community to coordinate an immediate and longer-term response, the White House said.
