(SEOUL, South Korea) — North Korea test-launched on Monday two ballistic missiles, one of which may have failed and fallen to the ground before reaching the sea, according to South Korea’s military and media.
“We strongly condemn North Korea’s missile launch as a clear provocation that seriously threatens peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula,” South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said.
The tests were detected at 5:05 a.m. and 5:15 a.m., the South Korean military said. South Korean officials shared the launch data in real-time with the United States and Japan, South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said Monday.
The latest provocation from North Korea and its leader, Kim Jong Un, followed last week’s joint military exercises by the U.S., Japan and South Korea. Those exercises were a sign that the security cooperation in the region “has never been stronger,” U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said on Friday.
The U.S. military condemned Monday’s launches, calling on North Korea to put an end to its “unlawful and destabilizing acts.”
“While we have assessed that this event does not pose an immediate threat to U.S. personnel, or territory, or to our allies, we continue to monitor the situation,” the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said in a statement. “The U.S. commitments to the defense of the ROK and Japan remain ironclad.”
The first of Monday’s ballistic missile tests flew about 600 km, or about 373 miles, and landed off Chongjin, North Korea, in the Sea of Japan, the South Korean military said.
The other missile appeared to have flown only about 120 km, or about 75 miles, the military told the South Korean news agency Yonhap.
“It is difficult to know exactly where the short-range missile hit, and we believe it may have gone toward Pyongyang,” a South Korean military official said, according to Yonhap.
ABC News’ Ellie Kaufman contributed to this report.
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