South Korea says North Korea fired more than 10 missiles in its direction on Wednesday morning, including one projectile that flew close to South Korea’s Ulleung island before hitting the waters off its east coast.
Air raid sirens were activated to warn residents on the island to take cover immediately, officials from Seoul’s defence ministry said.
The 10 missiles fired in the early hours of Wednesday included at least three-short range ballistic missiles and seven missiles of other types which are not immediately known, the South Korean officials said.
“The ROK military, at around 8.51am, detected three short-range ballistic missiles that North Korea fired from Kangwon Province’s Wonsan region, and one of these fell in international waters of the East Sea, south of the Northern Limit Line (NLL),” the JCS said in a statement.
North Korea has not yet commented on the launches, but had warned it would take action as the US and South Korea went ahead with joint military exercises.
It is believed to be the largest single missile bombardment fired by Pyongyang since 2010.
This takes the total number of missiles fired by Pyongyang to over 60 – including nearly 50 ballistic missiles – in just this year alone. Most of these were fired in the direction of the East Sea.
The launch was also reported by Japan, but it did not confirm a tally of missiles fired.
“North Korea has launched a suspected ballistic missile. More updates to follow,” Japan’s prime minister’s office said, issuing directions to its units to prepare for contingencies.
The missile launch on Wednesday morning represents a significant escalation as the projectile is mostly likely the first this year to have landed in South Korea’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), Seoul’s army lieutenant general Kang-Shin-chul said.
This is also the first time a missile from DPRK has fallen near South Korea’s territorial waters south of the Northern Limit Line, which is just 35 miles (57 kms) east of Seoul’s coastal city of Sokcho and 104 miles (167 kms) northeast of the island, the JCS’s chief director of operations said in a video announcement, reported Seoul-based news organisations NK News.
“This is highly unprecedented and can never be tolerated. Our military declares we will respond firmly to this,” the top military official said.
It is also the first time a North Korean missile had landed so close to the sea border since both countries disintegrated in 1948, the South Korean military said.
