NK gripes, fires missile

Pyongyang sends a strong signal to the US, South Korea and Japan

SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korea fired a short-range ballistic missile Thursday, Seoul’s military said, the latest in a record-breaking blitz of launches as Pyongyang warned of a “fiercer” military response to the United States and its regional allies.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said that the military had “detected around 10:48 a.m. one shortrange ballistic missile fired from the Wonsan area in Kangwon province.”

Experts said the missile launch was timed to coincide with the statement from Pyongyang’s foreign minister slamming US President Joe Biden’s talks with his South Korean counterpart Yoon Suk-yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia on Sunday. The trio’s discussions were about ways to address the threat posed by North Korea’s “unlawful weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs.”

The more Washington works to strengthen its security alliance with Tokyo and Seoul, “the fiercer the DPRK’s military counteraction will be”, Choe said, referring to the North by its official name.