The South Korean military reported that North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles on Monday, which flew approximately 370 kilometers each and were launched from North Hwanghae province into the Sea of Japan. The launch is considered a “serious provocative act that harms the peace and stability of the international community and the Korean peninsula,” according to Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff. Japanese media also confirmed the launch, stating that both missiles flew on an irregular trajectory before falling outside its economic exclusion zone.
The launch comes after South Korea and the US culminated their largest joint military exercises in five years and while conducting an amphibious landing drill. Pyongyang considers these maneuvers to be a rehearsal for an invasion and declared that the recent exercises, called Freedom Shield, were training to “occupy” North Korea. In addition, North Korea has conducted its own military exercises, including the second launch of the year of an intercontinental ballistic missile and the test of a nuclear attack submarine drone.
North Korean state media published that the US-South Korean military exercises call for “stronger war deterrents,” including a “multifaceted and offensive nuclear strike capability.” The test of the “underwater nuclear attack drone,” personally supervised by leader Kim Jong Un, was conducted to “alert the enemy of a real nuclear crisis,” according to the official KCNA news agency. The drone’s mission is to “stealthily infiltrate operational waters and cause a large-scale radioactive tsunami (…) to destroy offensive fleets and important operational ports of the enemy.”
Analysts have pointed out that North Korea could be using these exercises as an excuse to launch more missiles and perhaps even a nuclear test. Although North Korean claims about its nuclear capability have been questioned by some experts, there are concerns that the country is moving from simply stockpiling nuclear warheads to attempting to diversify its means of delivery. The situation has prompted South Korea and Japan to mend their relations, strained by historical disputes, with the intention of closer security cooperation.