South Korea also reported the launch, with South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff saying in a statement that Seoul is still trying to determine how many projectiles were fired.
If confirmed, Thursday’s launch would be North Korea’s 11th missile launch this year, including one on March 16 that South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said is believed to have failed.
The US Indo-Pacific Command said earlier this month that the US was stepping up “intelligence collection, readiness and surveillance activities” related to North Korea following the recent spate of missile launches.
The move is a signal from the Biden administration that it needs to strengthen its military stance to ensure the US and regional allies like South Korea and Japan are protected from North Korea’s missile tests.
The command said they had “ordered increased intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance activities in the Yellow Sea, as well as increased readiness of our ballistic missile defenses in the region.”
Last week, the US military held drills in and around the Korean peninsula to demonstrate its readiness in the wake of North Korean activities, including simulating ballistic missile defense systems.
The U.S. Army’s 35th Air Defense Artillery Brigade moved to a remote location, “manned its wartime defensive position, deployed the Patriot missile system, and conducted anti-aircraft and anti-missile operations under a simulated combat scenario,” U.S. Forces Korea said in a press release.
And at sea, F-35 and F/A-18 fighter jets taking off from the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, along with US Air Forces based in the region, put on a show of force in the Yellow Sea off South Korea’s west coast, according to a statement by the 7th… US Navy Fleet in Japan.
The potential Thursday launch also comes just two weeks after South Korea elected a new conservative president, Yoon Suk Yeol, who is expected to take a harder line against North Korea than current incumbent Moon Jae-in.[potentiallaunchalsocomesjusttwoweeksafterSouthKoreaelectedanewconservativePresidentYoonSukYeolwhoisexpectedtotakeaharderlineagainstNorthKoreathanthecurrentofficeholderMoonJae-in[potentiallaunchalsocomesjusttwoweeksafterSouthKoreaelectedanewconservativePresidentYoonSukYeolwhoisexpectedtotakeaharderlineagainstNorthKoreathanthecurrentofficeholderMoonJae-in
This story has been updated to clarify the location of the missile.