North Korea launches a missile after an aeroplane buzzes border with South Korea

• North Korea has fired a short-range ballistic missile into its eastern waters.
• The missile was fired at 1:49 am on Friday.
• South Korea scrambled F-35 fighter jets near The border with NK.

After flying fighter jets close to the South Korean border, North Korea launched a short-range ballistic missile into its eastern waters, escalating the already high level of tension on the peninsula caused by its unprecedented string of weapons tests this year.

The missile was fired at 1:49am on Friday, according to a statement from South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) (16:49 GMT on Thursday).

According to the JCS, it happened hours after South Korea scrambled F-35 fighter fighters and other aircraft after discovering roughly 10 North Korean aeroplanes as close as 12 kilometres (7 miles) from the border.

Similar events occurred the previous week, but this time the planes breached a “reconnaissance line” established by Seoul, which started an automated operational response.

North Korea’s actions were denounced by South Korea’s National Security Council as a violation of a 2018 bilateral military agreement that forbids “hostile acts” in the border region.

With the addition of 16 institutions and 15 North Koreans on a blacklist, Seoul slapped the first unilateral sanctions against Pyongyang in nearly five years.

In 2022, North Korea launched a record amount of weapons, and Kim Jong Un prioritised the development of tactical nuclear weapons.

Yasukazu Hamada, the minister of defence for Japan, denounced the most recent weapons test and said that the missile flew on a “irregular” trajectory, possibly alluding to the KN-23, a missile based on the Russian Iskander.

Whatever the motivations, North Korea’s repeated launches of ballistic missiles are completely unacceptable, and we cannot ignore the country’s significant development in missile capability, according to Hamada. Japan, the region, and the global community are all at risk due to North Korea’s recent acts, which are completely untenable.

The North Korean military said on Friday that its most recent measures were in retaliation to a “provocative” artillery drill conducted by South Korea close to the border.

Following the South Korean artillery fire, the North Korean military, according to the official KCNA news agency, took “strong military countermeasures.”

According to a statement, the Korean People’s Army “sends a strong warning to the South Korean military for recklessly creating military tension in the frontline area.”

Kim has intensified the development and testing of his prohibited nuclear arsenal in light of the long-stalled denuclearization discussions and the UN’s deadlock over Ukraine.

For months, Seoul and Washington’s officials have been warning that Pyongyang is preparing to carry out another nuclear test, the nation’s seventh overall and the first in five years.

The Friday-launched missile attained a maximum altitude of 50 kilometres (31 miles) and travelled as far as 650 kilometres (404 miles) before touching down in waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan.

North Korea reported testing two long-range cruise missiles on Thursday. Because cruise missiles fly at lower altitudes than ballistic missiles, they are more difficult to track and intercept. Although Pyongyang is not technically prohibited from testing cruise missiles by the UN, any launch of a ballistic missile is illegal.

According to Pyongyang, the missile launches were “tactical nuclear” training under Kim’s direction in retaliation for joint US-South Korean naval operations.

North Korea said that the tests conducted over the previous two weeks were mock nuclear attacks on important South Korean and American sites, adding that they served as a warning to Seoul and Washington on their drills. A brand-new intermediate-range missile was tested, the first one of its kind in five years, and it was launched over Japan and into the Pacific Ocean.

The launches are seen to be an effort by Kim to get his enemies to concede that his nation is legitimate nuclear power and relieve the punishing economic sanctions against it.

According to KCNA, Kim expressed “great satisfaction” with the recent tests, saying they demonstrated the nation’s nuclear fighting forces were “fully equipped for actual battle.”

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