North Korea fired a short-range missile into the ocean just off the coast of South Korea Thursday, escalating tensions just hours after threatening “fiercer” retaliation following a summit between U.S. leaders and their South Korean and Japanese counterparts. Though it was North Korea’s first launch in 8 days, the country has fired a record number in the past few weeks, including one suspected intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staffs said in a statement that Thursday’s missile was fired from the North’s eastern coastal Wonsan area at 10:48 a.m.
It came after North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hue warned that recent the trilateral summit on the sidelines of the ASEAN Summit in Phnom Penh, Cambodia – which saw President Joe Biden claim the alliance between the countries is “ more aligned than ever” and “more prepared to take on those challenges than ever” – would leave tensions on the Korean Peninsula “more unpredictable.” “The keener the U.S. is on the ‘bolstered offer of extended deterrence’ to its allies and the more they intensify provocative and bluffing military activities on the Korean Peninsula and in the region, the fiercer (North Korea’s) military counteraction will be,” Choe said, according to AP. “It will pose a more serious, realistic and inevitable threat to the U.S. and its vassal forces.” Read more.
This kind of warning could be an indication of their intent to launch surprise attack in the near future.