North Korea fired multiple short-range ballistic missiles toward the East Sea on Monday, the South Korean military said, as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Seoul for a multilateral ministerial conference .The Joint Chiefs of Staff said it detected what appear to be short-range ballistic missiles from Sangwon in North Hwanghae Province at around 7:44 a.m., but did not provide further details .”Our military has heightened surveillance and alertness in preparation for additional launches. We are maintaining a full readiness while sharing information related to North Korean ballistic missile launches with U.S. and Japanese authorities,” the JCS said in a text message to reporters .Japan’s defense ministry said it detected two North Korean ballistic missiles and they appear to have fallen into waters outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone.
The launch comes about a month after the North fired a new surface-to-sea cruise missile, the Padasuri-6, from its eastern coast on Feb. 14.It marks the North’s second ballistic missile launch of the year since the first on Jan. 14, when it test-fired a solid-fuel intermediate-range ballistic missile carrying a hypersonic warhead .Pyongyang conducted five rounds of cruise missile tests this year, raising concerns over the weapons systems that are harder to detect and shoot down. The launch comes days after Seoul and Washington wrapped up the annual Freedom Shield exercise, which focused on bolstering deterrence against North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats .North Korea has long denounced the allies’ military drills as rehearsals for an invasion against it, while Seoul and Washington have rejected such claims, describing their exercises as defensive in nature .Earlier in the day, Blinken arrived in Seoul to attend the 토토사이트 Summit for Democracy, a ministerial conference that brings together top government officials from some 30 countries