North Korea fires missiles prior to battle exercises

SEOUL, South Korea — Fighter jets roared off the USS Nimitz as the nuclear-powered U.S. aircraft carrier and its battle group began exercises with South Korean warships on Monday, hours after North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles in an apparent protest of the allies’ expanding drills.

The seventh missile test this month underscored heightening tensions in the region as both the North’s weapons tests and the U.s.-south Korea joint military exercises have intensified in a cycle of tit for tat.

The launches may have been timed for the arrival of the USS Nimitz and its strike group, including a guided missile cruiser and two destroyers, which engaged in air defense exercises and other drills with South Korean warships in waters near Jeju island.

Jang Do Young, a South Korean navy spokesperson, said the drills were aimed at sharpening joint operational capabilities and demonstrating the U.S. commitment to defend its ally with the full range of options, including nuclear, in face of the North’s “escalating nuclear and missile threats.”

The Nimitz strike group was expected to arrive at the South Korean mainland port of Busan on Tuesday.

“The United States has deployable strategic assets at the ready on every day,” said Rear Adm. Christopher Sweeney, commander of Carrier Strike Group Eleven. “We can continue to deploy those assets and we will.”

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the two North Korean missiles were fired from a western inland area south of the North’s capital of Pyongyang at 7:47 and 8 a.m. and traveled around 230 miles before landing at sea. Japan’s military said the missiles, which landed outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone, flew on an irregular trajectory and reached a maximum altitude of 30 miles.

Japan has previously used similar language to describe a North Korean solid-fuel missile apparently modeled after Russia’s Iskander mobile ballistic system, which is designed to be maneuverable in low-altitude flight to better evade South Korean missile defenses. North Korea also has another short-range system with similar characteristics that resembles the

U.S. MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile System.