The United States and South Korea confirmed that they fired eight surface-to-surface missiles early Monday off South Korea’s east coast, in response to a chain of short-range ballistic missiles launched by North Korea on Sunday.
The move served as a display of “the capability and readiness to carry out precision strikes” against North Korea’s attack system, a South Korean news agency cited the military as saying.
President of South Korea, Yoon Suk-yeol, has promised to be more assertive against the North and had earlier in May reached an agreement with U.S. President Joe Biden at a summit in Seoul to upgrade joint military drills and their combined defence.
North Korea has carried out a series of missile launches this year to which Yoon said North Korea’s missile and nuclear weapons programmes have reached an unsettling level that poses a threat to regional and world peace.
Speaking on South Korea’s current stand, President Yoon said at an event for South Korea’s Memorial Day that they “will continue to build fundamental and practical security capabilities and deter the North’s nuclear and missile threats.”
South Korea and the United States fired a total of eight surface-to-surface missiles over a period of 10 minutes which began at 4:45 a.m. on Monday in response to the eight missiles fired by North Korea on Sunday.
North Korea’s short-range ballistic missiles, fired toward the sea off its east coast on Sunday, were said to be its largest single test and came a day after South Korea and the United States ended joint military drills.
