(SEOUL and LONDON) — North Korea test-launched two short-range ballistic missiles on Tuesday afternoon, South Korean and Japanese officials said.
The missile launch took place just hours after Elbridge Colby, the U.S. under secretary of defense for policy, wrapped up his visit to South Korea early Tuesday morning and arrived in Japan.
Seoul and Pyongyang have been on edge over North Korea’s accusation that South Korea intruded its airspace with drones in January and last September.
The launches amounted to a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions and posed “a serious issue concerning the safety of the Japanese people,” the Japanese Ministry of Defense said in a statement.
“Japan has lodged a strong protest against North Korea and strongly condemned them,” the statement said in Japanese, which was translated by ABC News.
The missiles were fired from the Pyongyang area at about 4 p.m. and both traveled almost 350 kilometers, or about 217 miles, before splashing down into the Sea of Japan, Japanese and Korean officials said.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in its own statement that Seoul’s intelligence authorities tracked the launch and shared info with both Japan and the United States.
“Under a robust South Korea–U.S. combined defense posture, the South Korean military is closely monitoring various developments by North Korea and maintaining the capabilities and readiness to respond overwhelmingly to any provocation,” South Korea’s military said in a statement.
Japanese officials said the missiles were thought to have landed near the North Korean coast in the Sea of Japan, which is also known as the East Sea.
“The government has provided information to aircraft and ships sailing in the area, but at this time no reports of damage have been confirmed,” Japan said in a statement in Japanese, which was translated by ABC News.
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