S. Korea, US conduct joint missile exercises after DPRK's ICBM test

South Korea and the United States on Wednesday conducted joint ballistic missile exercises a day after the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) declared a successful test of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).


South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said in a statement that the missile units of South Korea and the US carried out joint ballistic missile drills in the East Sea at 7 a.m. local time (2200 GMT on Tuesday) in response to the DPRK's repeated ballistic missile provocations.

The joint exercises mobilized the South Korean military's Hyunmoo-II ballistic missiles and the eighth US Army's ATACMS ground-to-ground missiles to show their combined capability in emergency situations, the statement said.

The joint missile drills followed the DPRK's claim on Tuesday that it successfully test-fired a new type of ICBM, called Hwasong-14, which flew about 930 km and was lofted as high as some 2,800 km.

The joint drills were conducted as South Korean President Moon Jae-in proposed it to US President Donald Trump, Yoon Young-chan, Moon's senior press secretary, told reporters.

President Moon said it would be necessary to clearly show the South Korea-US combined missile preparedness to the DPRK as just announcing a statement was not enough.

 [Xinhua/globaltimes.cn]

5/7/17

-

Related:

• North Korea launches unidentified missile on July 4
• N Korea Aimed to Show Off Ability to Strike US Warships in Missile Test : Seoul
• USA gestehen ihre Unfähigkeit zur Abwehr von Nordkoreas Raketen ein : Militärexperte
• South Korea Says Pyongyang’s New Missile Not Capable of Reaching US Territory