South Korea And Japan Are Anxious To See Pyongyang Releasing Two Short-Range Ballistic Missiles

Photo via Twitter @VP

JAKARTA - North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles off its east coast. This action was carried out just a day before US Vice President Kamala Harris arrived in Seoul, South Korea.

The missile launch came two days after South Korean and US forces conducted military drills in waters off the south east coast involving an aircraft carrier. On Sunday, North Korea fired another ballistic missile towards the sea off its east coast.

The missiles were launched from the Sunan area of ​​Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, between 6:10 p.m. and 6:20 p.m. local time, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said.

"Our military has strengthened surveillance and vigilance while working closely with the United States," they said in a statement.

The Japanese coast guard also reported a suspected ballistic missile test. For the Minister of Defense Toshiro Ino as an unacceptable act.

"North Korea's series of actions, including repeated ballistic missile launches, pose a threat to the peace and security of Japan, the region, and the international community," Ino said.

After stopping in Japan for Shinzo Abe's funeral, Harris traveled to South Korea and visited the heavily fortified Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).

In a speech hours earlier aboard the destroyer USS Howard in the Japanese city of Yokosuka, Harris described Sunday's missile launch as part of a banned weapons program that threatens regional stability and violates various UN Security Council resolutions.

North Korea is expected to carry out a nuclear test between October 16 and November 7, the first since 2017, according to South Korea's Yonhap news agency, citing lawmakers briefed by the national intelligence agency.

Preparations for nuclear tests have been completed at North Korea's Punggye-ri test tunnel, where Pyongyang conducted six underground nuclear tests from 2006 to 2017.

"The NIS said if North Korea conducted a nuclear test, it could happen between China's 20th (Communist) Party Congress on October 16 and the US midterm elections on November 7," a legislator, Yoo Sang-bum, told the news agency.

Two weeks ago, North Korea released a new propaganda poster, featuring a nuclear-tipped ballistic missile, for the first time in years, after Pyongyang outlined its nuclear policy in a new law.