North Korea fires ballistic missiles capping record year of tests

North Korea fired three shortrange ballistic missiles Saturday Seouls military said adding a final salvo to Pyongyangs recordbreaking blitz of launches this yearMilitary tensions on the Korean peninsula have risen sharply in 2022 as the North has conducted sanctionsbusting weapons tests nearly every month including firing its most advanced intercontinental ballistic missile everSaturdays launch comes a day after South Korea successfully tested a solidfuel space launch vehicle and follows the incursion of five North Korean drones into the Souths airspace earlier in the weekSouth Koreas military said it had detected three shortrange ballistic missiles launched by North Korea into the East Sea from the area of Chunghwa County North Hwanghae Province at around 0800 2300 GMT referring to the body of water also known as the Sea of JapanThe missiles flew about 350 kilometres 217 miles before splashing down it addedOur military maintains a full readiness posture while closely cooperating with the US and strengthening surveillance and vigilance the Joint Chiefs of Staff saidMondays North Korean drone incursion was the first such incident in five years and prompted an apology from Seouls defence minister after the military failed to shoot down a single drone despite scrambling jets for a fivehour operationAlso Read South Korea launches jets fires shots after North flies dronesSouth Korean president Yoon Sukyeol called the incident intolerable and added that the South should ensure that Pyongyang realised that provocations are always met with harsh consequencesSeouls military staged drills Thursday that the countrys top brass said would improve its defences against any future drone provocationsAnd on Friday South Korea successfully tested a new space launch vehicle as part of its drive to strengthen spacebased reconnaissance and surveillance capabilities the defence ministry saidPyongyang earlier this month said it conducted an important finalstage test for the development of a reconnaissance satellite claiming it had developed advanced technologies to take images from spaceThe purpose of North Koreas missile launch today is to respond to Seouls solidfuelled space launch vehicle Pyongyang seems to be thinking of this as a competition Yang Moojin a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul told AFP Party meeting North Korea is currently holding a major party meeting in Pyongyang at which Kim and other senior party officials are outlining their policy goals for 2023 in key areas including diplomacy security and the economyEarlier this year North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said he wanted his country to have the worlds most powerful nuclear force and declared the North an irreversible nuclear stateOn Wednesday Kim set out new key goals for the countrys military state media reported without giving any specificsNorth Koreas endofyear plenary meetings are typically used by the regime to unveil the countrys domestic and foreign policy priorities for the year aheadFull details of the current session are expected to be announced after it concludesWhile Kim focused on the economy at the 2021 plenary analysts are widely expecting a shift in tone this year to highlight the military front in light of the recent blitz of missile launchesIn past years Kim had delivered a speech every January 1 but he recently dropped the tradition in favour of making announcements at the yearend plenary meetingThe Saturday launch could be seen as a gift from Kim Jong Un to the people marking the end of the year with recordbreaking missile launches while congratulating the Workers Party of Koreas plenary meeting North Korean studies scholar Ahn Chanil told AFPKim is trying to send a message that the people should feel safe as their country is clearly a military power although it may be suffering economicallyThe United States and South Korea have warned for months that Pyongyang is preparing to conduct its seventh nuclear testNorth Korea is under multiple UN Security Council sanctions over its nuclear and missile activity since 2006This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever