By Hyunhee Shin
SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea fired several short-range ballistic missiles off its east coast on Tuesday, the South Korean military said, in the latest show of force by Pyongyang just days before U.S. President-elect Donald Trump returns to office.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff in Seoul said that the missiles traveled a distance of about 250 kilometers after they were launched at about 09:30 a.m. (0030 GMT) from Kanji in Jagang Province, near the country's border with China.
“We strongly condemn the missile launch as a clear provocation that seriously threatens peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula,” the Joint Chiefs of Staff said, warning the North against “misjudging” the situation and vowing to “respond overwhelmingly” to any additional provocations.
Acting South Korean President Choe Sang-mok also condemned the missile launch as a violation of UN Security Council resolutions and said Seoul would respond strongly to North Korea's provocations.
The presidential office in Seoul said the National Security Council held a meeting to review the situation and pledged to take a firm stance.
Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said he was aware of the missile test, and that Tokyo was taking all possible measures to respond through close cooperation with Washington and Seoul, including exchanging real-time missile warning data.
The launch came about a week after North Korea launched what it claimed was a new medium-range hypersonic ballistic missile, its first missile test since November 5.
The latest missile launch also occurred during Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya's visit to Seoul.
South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yeol and Iwaya condemned North Korea's nuclear and missile development on Monday and pledged to strengthen security ties after talks in Seoul.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, during his visit to Seoul last week, also called for further strengthening of bilateral and trilateral cooperation including Tokyo to better confront Pyongyang's growing military threats.
Tuesday's launch came days before the inauguration of Trump, who held unprecedented summits with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during his first term and touted their personal relationship.
South Korean lawmakers, briefed by the National Intelligence Service, said on Monday that Pyongyang's latest weapons tests were partly intended to “demonstrate US deterrence capabilities and attract Trump's attention” after it pledged the “strongest US counter-response” in a key issue. . End-of-year policy meeting last month.
