The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) of South Korea have reported that North Korea has fired two short-range ballistic missiles that have landed in the water between the Korean Peninsula and Japan.
JCS said that the missiles were fired early on Wednesday local time from North Korea’s Sunan region. The missiles fell in the water after travelling roughly 550 kilometres each, it continued.
The US and South Korean intelligence agencies are examining the specifics of these missiles, according to JCS.
Japan’s government also described the two missiles in a statement, saying that they fell outside of its exclusive economic zone.
The launches follow a period of heightened tensions on the peninsula.
On Tuesday, a nuclear-capable US Navy ballistic missile submarine made a port call in South Korea. The presence of the Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine in the South Korean port city of Busan was announced by the country’s Defense Ministry.
Kim Yo Jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and a senior official in her own right, said in a statement Monday the deployment of a US ballistic missile submarine to the peninsula would damage already fractured lines of communication between the two sides.
The arrival of the submarine comes after North Korea last week tested what it said was an advanced long range missile and threatened to shoot down US military reconnaissance aircraft engaging in what it called “hostile espionage” activities near its territory.
South Korea and the US also held their inaugural meeting in Seoul on Tuesday of the Nuclear Consultative Group, a joint panel set up by the countries’ leaders at a summit in Washington in April.