North Korea fires new ballistic missile

Pyongyang fires live ammunition. North Korea engaged in demonstrations of military force Thursday and Friday, between ballistic missile testing, passages of fighter planes and artillery fire at sea, claiming to respond to “provocations” from Seoul.

According to the official North Korean agency KCNA, a ballistic missile was fired towards the sea on the night of Thursday to Friday, in response to an artillery exercise by South Korea. A North Korean army spokesman accused the neighboring army of carrying out “artillery fire for about ten hours” near the border on Thursday and of stoking “military tension in the area of ​​the front line”.

170 artillery shots

Ten North Korean fighter jets also flew over an area 25 km from the border with South Korea, which in turn sent aircraft in response, according to the South Korean general staff, quoted by Yonhap. North Korea then carried out 170 artillery fire into its waters on its east and west coasts, in violation of a “buffer zone” established during a 2018 agreement with the South to prevent incidents at sea, according to the South Korean General Staff.

In recent weeks, Kim Jong-un’s regime has stepped up weapons tests described as simulated “tactical nuclear” strikes against targets in South Korea. Seoul and Washington also expect that Pyongyang, which considers itself threatened by American, South Korean and Japanese military maneuvers in the region, will soon resume its nuclear tests.