North Korea launched several ballistic missiles off the country’s east coast on Monday morning, a day after the United States held joint military exercises with South Korea and Japan.
Kim Yo Jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, called the United States “the worst maniacs” in a statement after the latest missile launches.
“The frequency of using the Pacific as a firing range depends on the nature of the action by US forces,” said Kim Yo Jong in a statement released by state media. “We are well aware that the movement of US forces’ strategic strike means that it has recently intensified around the Korean Peninsula.”
This photo furnished by the North Korean government shows what a test firing of a Hwasong-15 ICBM says at Pyongyang International Airport in Pyongyang, North Korea on Saturday, February 18, 2023. The content of this image is as supplied and may not be independently verified. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)
South Korea and Japan both detected ballistic missile launches on Monday morning, though the types of missiles and their flight paths weren’t immediately known.
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On Saturday, North Korea launched a Hwasong-15 ICBM in what state media called a test to verify the country’s “fatal” nuclear strike capability.
The ICBM flew a distance of approximately 615 miles and reached an altitude of 3,585 miles before landing in waters off the coast of Japan.
In this photo provided by the South Korean Defense Ministry, US Air Force B-1B bombers, center, and South Korean Air Force F-22 fighter jets and F-35 fighter jets, bottom, fly over the South Korean peninsula during a joint air exercise in South Korea on January 1, 2023. (South Korean Ministry of Defense via AP, File)
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The United States flew supersonic long-range bombers on Sunday in reaction to that test on Saturday, with South Korean fighter jets escorting American B-1B bombers.
North Korea launched a record 90 missiles last year, though Saturday’s ICBM test was the first launch since January 1.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
