Flashpoints | Security | East Asia

North Korea Launches Massive Ballistic Missile Barrage Amid South Korea-US Drills

The unusual firing of 10 missiles comes as Pyongyang seeks to command attention while global focus remains fractured across multiple international conflicts.

North Korea fired a volley of ballistic missiles into the sea off its east coast on March 14, a provocative display of force that comes during large-scale military exercises between the United States and South Korea. It is North Korea’s third missile launch this year, and the first since January 27. 

According to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), the North launched approximately 10 short-range ballistic missiles from the Sunan area near Pyongyang at approximately 1:20 p.m. KST. The missiles flew roughly 350 kilometers (217 miles) before splashing down into the waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan.

A day after the launch, the North’s state-controlled Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said that “twelve 600mm-caliber ultra-precision multiple rocket launchers and two artillery companies” were involved in the missile test. 

“The launched rockets battered the island target in the East Sea of Korea about 364.4 km away with the accuracy of 100 percent, proving once again the destructive capability of their concentration strike and the system’s military value once again,” KCNA reported. 

While justifying his aggressive moves to beef up his country’s nuclear capabilities as a means for self-defense, Kim Jong Un, the autocratic leader of North Korea, touted the capabilities of the missiles launched on Saturday. Kim threatened that any country that might be attacked by the tested weapons cannot survive. 

“As I have already stated, our powerful attacking capability is, in effect, for defending ourselves,” Kim was quoted as saying in a KCNA report. “But in case such deterrents of a defensive nature do not prevent foreign forces from launching an armed provocation or invading our state to jeopardize the security of its sovereignty, they will immediately be used for their second mission, i.e., as a means of massive, destructive strike.” 

The Office of National Security at the South’s Presidential Blue House held an emergency meeting and condemned the North’s ballistic missile launch, which is a clear violation of the United Nations Security Council resolutions. The Office also urged the North to halt an act of provocation. 

On March 10, Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of Kim Jong Un, issued a statement warning Pyongyang of responsive measures against the “Freedom Shield” exercises, the annual U.S.-South Korea military exercise. As Pyongyang has a history of conducting missile launches during the joint military exercises between the U.S. and South Korea, Seoul and Washington would not have been surprised by Saturday’s missile launch.

However, what caught........

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