Missile launch aimed at ‘stern warning’ to rivals over military drills: North Korea

Seoul: North Korea said on Friday that its recent intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launch was intended to deliver a “stern warning” against joint military exercises by South Korea and the United States. North Korea also accused the military exercises of creating an “unstable security environment” in the region. North Korea on Thursday launched an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in a show of military might, just hours before South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida are due to hold summit in Tokyo.

The summit underscored their shared view of the urgency of forging a united front on North Korea and China with their mutual ally, the United States. The ICBM launch was the fourth test by North Korea in about a week, in what it believed to be a retaliatory response to joint US-South Korea military drills. Both the armies started the joint exercise on Monday, which will continue till March 23.

According to North Korea’s official ‘Korean Central News Agency’ (KCNA), the Hwasong-17 ICBM was launched from Pyongyang’s international airport under the supervision of the country’s leader Kim Jong-un and during this he “instilled fear in the enemies”. stressed the need to do According to the information, North Korea launched it at a high angle to prevent the missile from falling into the neighboring area. The missile reached a maximum altitude of 6,045 km and traveled over 1,000 km before splashing down in the waters off the country’s east coast. The ICBM launch by North Korea was aimed at sending a “stern warning” to its rivals, who are raising tensions in the region with “large-scale aggressive war drills” on the Korean peninsula.

The agency said the launch was also carried out to test the reliability of the weapon system. Kim said it was necessary for North Korea’s nuclear missile forces to be prepared to hit back at adversaries with “hard offensive measures” and to make them realize that their continued and expanded military actions would “set them an irreversible, North Korea has consistently described the US and South Korean military drills as a prelude to a possible attack, while the US and South Korea have described the drills as an exercise to enhance defensive measures.

On the other hand, the issue of missile launch by North Korea dominated the summit talks between Yoon and Kishida. Meanwhile, the two leaders also agreed to resume defense dialogue and strengthen their three-way security cooperation with the US to counter North Korea and other regional challenges.