Seoul, Dec 17 (EFE).- North Korea launched a short-range ballistic missile toward the Sea of Japan on Sunday, according to South Korea’s military, with accusations from Pyongyang that the United States engaged in “reckless military provocations,” like deploying submarines, as a “preview of a nuclear war.”
The Joint Chiefs of Staff reported that the missile, fired from or around Pyongyang at approximately 10:38 p.m. local time, traveled about 570 km before landing in the East Sea (known as the Sea of Japan in the Koreas).
South Korea condemned the launch as a “clear” violation of UN Security Council resolutions prohibiting North Korea from using ballistic missile technology.
“While elevating our alert readiness, our military is maintaining a full readiness posture by closely sharing data on the ‘North Korean ballistic missile’ with the US and Japan,” the South Korean military said, according to the Yonhap news agency.
The three allies have reportedly agreed to operate a system for real-time sharing of North Korean ballistic missile warning data by the end of the year to strengthen trilateral security cooperation.
After launching the missile, North Korea’s defense ministry warned of a preemptive and deadly counteraction against any attempt to use nuclear weapons, accusing the US and South Korea of exacerbating tensions on the peninsula through “reckless military provocations” and joint military drills.
“(They) are going to end the year with a preview of a nuclear war,” it said.
The ministry claimed that during the second “Nuclear Consultative Group” meeting on Dec. 15, the US and South Korea revealed plans to establish an “extended deterrence system” by the middle of next year.
The US and South Korea have planned to “conduct a nuclear operation drill during the large-scale joint military exercises in August of next year,” the ministry said in a statement released by the state-run Korea Central News Agency (KCNA).
North Korea characterized it as an “open declaration on nuclear confrontation” and vowed to neutralize any attempt to ignite a nuclear war.
The launch, the 26th reported this year, occurred two days after South Korean officials detected signs indicating a potential intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launch.
The last ICBM Pyongyang tested was in July, when it fired a solid-fuel Hwasong-18 projectile from the outskirts of the North Korean capital.
However, the flight data does not appear consistent with an ICBM trajectory based on shared information from the Japanese defense ministry. EFE
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