North Korea launched a ballistic missile into the Sea of Japan, after Seoul began resuming an intelligence-sharing agreement with Tokyo.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said North Korea launched a short-range ballistic missile into the Sea of Japan east of the peninsula. The projectile reached a maximum altitude of 50 km, before plunging to the target at a distance of 800 km.
The Japanese Coast Guard confirmed the information, adding that the missile fell outside the country’s exclusive economic zone.
North Korean officials have not commented on the report.
A North Korean ballistic missile test-fired in September 2021. Image: KCNA.
North Korea last week launched a series of ballistic missiles, including an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) Hwasong-17, in response to an 11-day joint US-South Korea military exercise, as well as a summit meeting between the United States and South Korea. between South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
During a meeting in Tokyo on March 16, the leaders of Japan and South Korea agreed to resume the Military Intelligence Sharing Agreement (GSOMIA), seeing it as part of an effort to better deal with threats. North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats.
South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense said on March 17 that it had sent a letter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, requesting to take measures to normalize GSOMIA with Japan. The Korean Foreign Ministry is expected to send a letter to the Japanese side soon to fully restore the agreement.
South Korea and Japan signed GSOMIA in November 2016, allowing the two US allies in Northeast Asia to share military intelligence, especially on North Korea’s nuclear capabilities.
In August 2019, amid rising tension in Japan-Korea relations following a controversy over wartime forced labor compensation, the South Korean presidential administration at that time, Moon Jae-in, stopped sharing information according to GSOMIA. . South Korean officials still extended the deal at the last minute before it expired, but the two sides have not made any move to share intelligence data since then.
Vu Anh (Theo Reuters)