South Korea: North launched missile toward sea

North Korea fired another missile test on Thursday, shooting a short-range ballistic missile toward the Yellow Sea, South Korean military officials said.

The test from North Korea comes as the country’s dictator Kim Jong Un and those close to him have raised concerns over U.S. military operations with South Korea. The two countries are planning on holding joint military training operations next week, countering the growing threat of the North.

But the resistance from the U.S. and South Korea seems to only embolden Kim and entrench the country in its belief that it needs to proliferate its nuclear arsenal. It fired an unprecedented number of missiles in tests last year.

U.S. intelligence agencies concluded in a report on Wednesday that North Korea had been timing its ballistic tests to coincide with the military exercises between the U.S. and South Korea.

“Since September 2022, North Korea has timed its missile launches and military demonstrations to counter U.S.–South Korea exercises probably to attempt to coerce the United States and South Korea to change their behavior and counteract South Korean President Yoon’s hardline policies toward the North,” the agencies said in the report.

The test on Thursday was fired into the waters off the west coast of South Korea, the military said, although they could not confirm where it landed. 

The test also comes after the U.S. and South Korea held joint military operations earlier this week, including the deployment of a B-52 long-range bomber plane. North Korea has pointed to the continued exercises as the driving reason for growing tensions.

The military exercises next week between the U.S. and South Korea are set to be the largest in the last five years.