North Korea fired a suspected ballistic missile off its east coast on Wednesday, according to South Korean and Japanese military sources, barely two days after warning of "counteraction" against claimed US spy aircraft and drone breaches.
South Korea and Japan both confirmed seeing the launch, but no additional information has been published.
This followed North Korea's most recent launch on June 15, which included two short-range ballistic missiles that fell within Japan's exclusive economic zone.
The current launch came after Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, claimed that the U.S. On July 10, Air Force reconnaissance planes and drones intruded into North Korea's exclusive economic zone airspace.
“I have already notified beforehand the counteraction of our army upon authorization,” she was quoted as saying by the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
According to KCNA, she warned that if US soldiers continue to unlawfully enter North Korean airspace, they will face "a very critical flight." North Korea's Defense Ministry has vowed to shoot down any surveillance plane that enters its territory.
North Korea said the US flew surveillance planes and a drone—RC-135, U-2S, and RQ-4B—over the East and West Seas of Korea between July 2 and July 9, and warned Washington that it will "pay the price."
“In particular, a strategic reconnaissance plane of the U.S. Air Force illegally intruded into the inviolable airspace of the DPRK over its East Sea tens of kilometers several times,” the North’s ministry stated, using North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
North Korea's assertions have been denied by US officials, who have appealed for dialogue. Pentagon spokesman Sabrina Singh underlined that the US military follows international law.
“I just don’t have anything more to say on those comments or threats coming out of North Korea. We operate responsibly and safely in international waterways and airspace wherever we can,” she said.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller has urged North Korea to avoid from escalatory moves and underlined Washington's willingness to engage North Korea in discussion without preconditions.
“We’ve made that clear on a number of occasions, and unfortunately, they have refused to engage in a meaningful way,” Mr. Miller told reporters.
North Korea claims that the deployment of US military forces in the vicinity demonstrates US hostility. Pyongyang has also stated that its recent missile launches were in retaliation to what it called provocative military activities between the US and South Korea.
In reaction to North Korea's missile tests, the United States dispatched the nuclear-powered guided-missile submarine USS Michigan to South Korea on June 16. The deployment was part of the Washington Declaration, which the two nations inked in April.
North Korea condemned the US decision, claiming that the deployment of nuclear submarines would heighten military tensions on the Korean Peninsula and "may incite the worst crisis of nuclear conflict in practice."
“The demonstrative actions like the deployment of strategic assets by the U.S. will never lead to the promotion of security but rather become a disaster of bringing more painful and worrying security crisis they themselves do not want,” the North’s Defense Ministry stated on July 10.
This year, North Korea conducted a record number of ballistic missile tests, including short-range and intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM). In March, it conducted its first ICBM test at full range since 2017.
The United States and its allies are concerned that North Korea is ready to resume nuclear testing for the first time since 2017.
