US, South Korea fire missiles in response to North’s ICBM
The United States has joined forces with South Korea to conduct a series of sophisticated military exercises in a show of strength against Kim Jong-un.
The two nations conducted the exercise to counteract North Korea’s “destabilising and unlawful actions”, according to the US Army.
As North Korea said it conducted its first successful intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) test on Tuesday.
A South Korean military spokesperson described the move by Washington and Seoul as a “joint missile drill.”
“This joint missile launch drill executed by South Korea and the US is an expression of the two countries’ firm resolution to never tolerate any kind of provocation from North Korea,” said Roh Jae-cheon, the chief of public affairs at the South Korean Joint Chief of Staff (JCS).
The US confirmed North Korea’s launch was of an intercontinental ballistic missile, as the North had claimed and the US and South Korea had feared. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called it a “new escalation of the threat” to the US.
In response, “deep strike” precision missiles were fired into the South Korean territorial waters on Wednesday to show North Korea a “firm combined missile response posture”, South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s office said.
The Hwasong-14 missile reached an altitude of 2,802km and hit its target precisely after flying for 39 minutes, the North’s state television said.
