North Korea fired its first ballistic missiles in a year, Japan said, providing an early test for President Joe Biden as he forms his policy toward Pyongyang.
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said North Korea fired two ballistic missiles Thursday in breach of United Nations resolutions, according to remarks streamed on public broadcaster NHK. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff separately said North Korea fired two projectiles from a province along its east coast into waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan.
“These missile launches, the first in roughly a year, pose a threat to the peace and security of our country and the region,” Suga said. “We’re determined to work closely with the U.S., South Korea and other related countries to fully protect the people and their lives of peace.”
South Korea’s presidential Blue House plans to hold an emergency National Security Council meeting Thursday morning regarding to North Korea’s projectile launch, spokesman Kang Min-seok said. Japan’s Defense Ministry said in a statement the missile landed outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone extending at least 200 nautical miles from shore.
The White House didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.
Details of the type of missile have yet to be released. Since 2019, North Korea has extensively tested short-range ballistic missiles capable of carrying a nuclear warhead and striking all of South Korea, where about 28,500 U.S. military personnel are stationed.
The first North Korean ballistic-missile launch since Biden took office serves as a reminder that Kim Jong Un’s nuclear arsenal remains among the U.S.’s biggest foreign policy challenges despite former President Donald Trump’s unprecedented face-to-face summits with the North Korean leader. Although Kim made a vague commitment in 2018 to “work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” he has continued to advance his nuclear weapons program.
North Korea on Sunday fired two cruise missiles that flew over the sea between the Korean Peninsula and China, a launch that is allowed under U.N. resolutions. That came days after U.S. officials led by Secretary of State Antony Blinken huddled with South Korean counterparts in Seoul as part of Biden’s effort to craft a strategy for rolling back North Korea’s nuclear program.
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(Lily Nonomiya, Sophie Jackman, Jennifer Epstein and Shinhye Kang contributed to this story.)
