South Korea fires three air-to-surface missiles after Pyongyang fires near its territorial waters

A television program warns people of a North Korean shooting at a train station in Seoul on November 2, 2022. JUNG YEON-JE / AFP

The South Korean military said it fired three precision air-to-surface missiles on Wednesday (November 2nd) in response to the North Korean missile that fell near South Korean waters earlier in the day.

The missiles were fired into the waters “near the Northern Limit Line at a distance corresponding to the area where the North Korean missile hit”she said in a statement, adding that the gesture shows that Seoul would respond “severely to any provocation”.

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North Korea fired at least ten missiles of various types on Wednesday. One fell near South Korean territorial waters, prompting a rare airstrike alert on an island off South Korea’s eastern coast.

“The North Korean missile launch is highly unusual and unacceptable, given that it fell near South Korean territorial waters south of the Northern Limit Line for the first time. since the peninsula was divided”said Kang Shin-chul, director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, at a press conference. He “constitutes in fact a territorial invasion”, believes for his part the South Korean president. Yoon Suk-yeol called a meeting of the National Security Council about the launch, one of the most “aggressive and threatening” for several years, say analysts.

Reprisals

One of the missiles landed in waters just 57 kilometers (35 miles) east of the South Korean mainland, the South Korean military said. In an alert broadcast on national television, South Korean authorities asked residents of Ulleungdo Island “to evacuate to the nearest underground shelter”.

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Japan has also confirmed the launch of suspected North Korean ballistic missiles, with its coastguard advising ships to be careful. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has said he wants “hold a meeting on national security as soon as possible” Due to “Rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula”.

Seoul and Washington are currently holding the largest joint air exercise in their history, dubbed “Vigilant Storm”, involving hundreds of warplanes from both armies. Pyongyang has been increasing retaliatory missile launches for several days.

The World with AFP