North Korea launched several short-range ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan on Tuesday, just hours before the U.S. presidential election kicked into high gear.
The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said the launches originated in the western North Korean province of North Hwanghae, near its capital city of Sariwon. The missiles flew for about 250 miles before splashing down in the Sea of Japan, which Koreans call the East Sea.
The JCS did not say how many missiles were fired in the barrage, although it said there were more than one. An official told reporters the launch appeared to involve North Korea’s KN-25 600-millimeter multiple rocket launchers, which have long enough range to strike anywhere in South Korea from the Sariwon area.
The KN-25 is a four-barreled mobile launcher that uses what North Korea calls “super-large” rockets. The U.S. military classifies it as a short-range ballistic missile launcher (SRBM). The system was first tested by North Korea in 2019.
The Japanese Defense Ministry confirmed Tuesday’s launch, saying it involved at least seven missiles fired over a nine-minute period. All of the missiles fell into the Sea of Japan outside of Japan’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).
South Korea’s Hankyoreh speculated the launch was both a “show of force” ahead of the U.S. presidential election, and a “gesture of protest over joint aerial exercises by South Korea, the U.S. and Japan” that were conducted on Sunday.
Sunday’s exercise was conducted in the region where the Air Defense Identification Zones (ADIZ), the warning zone outside a nation’s sovereign airspace, of South Korea and Japan overlap. The exercise involved at least one American B-1B Lancer supersonic strategic bomber, whose presence was openly meant as a warning to North Korea following last week’s provocative missile test.
North Korea test-launched a much larger Hwasong-19 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) five days ago. Pyongyang described the missile as a “tremendously powerful absolute weapon” whose successful test – a record 86 minutes in flight – brought “great satisfaction” to dictator Kim Jong-un.
