Seoul (AsiaNews) - In the early hours of the morning, North Korea launched four missiles into the Sea of Japan. Three of them have fallen in the exclusive economic zone of Japan [200 nautical miles from the coast], after covering 1000 km.
According to military sources in the South, the launch took place at 7:36 this morning from the Dongchang-ri missile base, near the Chinese border, and appears to be in response to joint military exercises between South Korea and the United States. Pyongyang has often denounced these exercises as "evidence" of an intended invasion of the North.
Three days ago, North Korea had threatened to launch missile in response to these exercises.
In a Foreign Ministry statement, Seoul condemns the launch of the missile as a "provocation", and as a clear violation of the resolutions of the UN Security Council and a major threat to the peninsula and to the world.
Yoshihide Suga, spokesman for the Japanese government, has denounced the act as "a serious threat to national security." Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pointed out that today's launch is "a new level of threat".
US State Department spokesman Mark Toner joined the chorus of condemnation and reiterated "our commitment to the defense of our allies, including the Republic of Korea and Japan," using "a full range of capabilities at our disposal against this growing threat. "
Last year, Seoul and Washington reached an agreement to install an anti-missile system called Thaad (Terminal High Altitude Area Defence) in Seongju, 200 km southeast of the capital. Each missile unit costs about $ 800 million. The Korean Catholic Church is opposed to the project because it could lead the peninsula into a "new Cold War."
