North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the East Sea early on Wednesday, confirmed the military officials of Japan and South Korea.North Korea launched two ballistic missiles eastward, Japans and South Koreas militaries said, just hours after a U.S. ballistic missile submarine arrived in a South Korean port for the first time in four decades: Reuters— ANI (@ANI) July 18, 2023The missile launch comes one day after the inaugural session of the US-South Korea security dialogue, and a few hours after a US Navy ballistic-missile submarine arrived at a South Korean port after four decades.Acts of significant provocation: South Korea military condemns missile launchSouth Koreas Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) confirmed the missile launch and subsequently said that the missile launches were detected from the Sunan area of North Korean capital Pyongyang between 3:30 AM and 3:46 AM local time. The missiles were airborne for around 550 km before dropping into the sea, just outside Japans exclusive economic zone.The JCS, in a statement, condemned what it termed as North Koreas acts of significant provocation.“We strongly condemn North Koreas successive ballistic missile launches as grave provocative acts that undermine the peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula as well as the international community, and are a clear violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions,” the JCS statement read.The US military also notified that they were alert about the missile launches and were in constant communication with its forces on the ground.“Our military will maintain a firm readiness posture based on capabilities to respond overwhelmingly to any North Korean provocations,” the JCS said, before adding, “The detailed specifications of these missiles are being analysed by intelligence authorities of South Korean and the US.”The launch of the ballistic missiles came one day after the United States and South Korea held the inaugural meeting of the Nuclear Consultative Group (NCG) in Seoul, where the US assured its allies of defending them and providing them with nuclear deterrence options.
