North Korea launches short-range ballistic missiles ahead of US elections

Just a few hours ahead of the presidential polls in the United States, North Korea fired multiple short-range ballistic missiles toward the East Sea on Tuesday, military of both South Korea and Japan confirmed as per local media.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected the launches at about 7:30 am from the Sariwon area in the western province of North Hwanghae just south of the capital Pyongyang, Yonhap news agency reported.

The missiles reportedly flew 400 km after lifting off from Sariwon.

“While strengthening our military’s monitoring and vigilance in preparation for additional launches, we are maintaining full readiness while closely sharing North Korean ballistic missile data with US and Japanese authorities,” the JCS said in a text message, the Seoul-based news outlet reported.

Meanwhile, the Japanese Defence Ministry said that North Korea launched what could be a ballistic missile and it appears to have already fallen, state media Kyodo reported.

The launch of the North Korean missiles took place just hours before America headed to the polls to vote between Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and her Republican rival Donald Trump.

On October 31, Pyongyang launched its new Hwasong-19 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), which in theory is capable of reaching the US mainland — into the East Sea.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un “expressed great satisfaction” at the test-firing of the “ultimate version” of an ICBM stating that his country’s “hegemonic position” in the development of means for nuclear delivery is “absolutely irreversible,” according to the official Korean Central News Agency.

Kim, who oversaw the test firing at the site, pledged that his country will “never change” its stance of bolstering its nuclear forces, KCNA said.

Following this, South Korea, the United States, and Japan staged combined air drills, involving a US B-1B bomber, over waters east of the southern island of Jeju.

The trilateral exercise was held on Sunday in airspace north of South Korea’s southern island of Jeju, the military said as per Yonhap news outlet. The three nations conducted similar drills earlier too this year.