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Seoul, South Korea — Air raid sirens sounded connected a South Korean land and residents determination evacuated to underground shelters aft North Korea fired astir a twelve missiles successful its absorption Wednesday, astatine slightest 1 of them landing adjacent the rivals' tense oversea border. South Korea rapidly responded by performing its ain rocket tests astatine the aforesaid borderline area.
Separately, South Korea's subject said Pyongyang fired much than 100 rounds of artillery Wednesday from the North's eastbound seashore into the maritime buffer portion betwixt the 2 Koreas, the Reuters quality bureau reports. The South's Joint Chiefs of Staff said it was a usurpation of the 2018 statement that created the zone.
The rocket launches came hours aft North Korea threatened to use atomic weapons to get the U.S. and South Korea to "pay the astir horrible terms successful history" arsenic it intensified its fiery rhetoric targeting ongoing South Korean-U.S. subject drills that it views arsenic an penetration rehearsal.
They besides came a fewer hours aft The White House pushed backmost against Pyongyang's saber rattling, reiterating that the drills are portion of a regular grooming docket with South Korea.
People ticker a TV quality study connected North Korea firing a ballistic rocket disconnected its eastbound coast, successful Seoul, South Korea, connected Nov. 2, 2022.
KIM HONG-JI / REUTERS
The North's barrage of rocket tests besides came arsenic satellite attraction was focused connected South Korea pursuing a play Halloween calamity that saw more than 150 radical killed successful a assemblage surge successful Seoul in the country's largest catastrophe successful years.
South Korea's subject said the North launched much than 10 missiles of assorted kinds disconnected its eastbound and occidental coasts connected Wednesday.
One of the missiles - a ballistic limb - was flying toward South Korea's Ulleung land earlier it yet landed 104 miles northwest of the island. South Korea's subject subsequently issued an aerial raid alert connected the island, according to the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff. South Korean media published photos showing land residents moving to underground shelters.
Hours aboriginal connected Wednesday, South Korea's subject said it had lifted the aerial raid alert connected the island.
That rocket landed 16 miles distant from the rivals' oversea border. The landing tract is successful planetary waters but acold southbound of the hold of the nations' oversea border, disconnected the eastbound seashore of South Korea. South Korea's subject said it was the archetypal clip a North Korean rocket had landed truthful adjacent to the oversea borderline since the countries' part successful 1948.
"This is precise unprecedented and we volition ne'er tolerate it," South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said successful a abstracted statement.
In 2010, North Korea shelled a frontline South Korean land disconnected the peninsula's occidental coast, sidesplitting 4 people. But the weapons utilized were artillery rockets, not ballistic missiles whose launches oregon tests are banned by aggregate U.N. Security Council resolutions.
Later Wednesday, South Korean combatant jets launched 3 air-to-surface, precision-guided missiles adjacent the eastbound oversea borderline to amusement its determination to get pugnacious connected North Korean provocations. South Korea's subject said the missiles landed successful planetary waters astatine the aforesaid region of 16 miles northbound of the hold of the oversea borderline arsenic the North Korean rocket fell earlier Wednesday.
It said it maintains a readiness to triumph "an overwhelming victory" against North Korea successful imaginable clashes.
"North Korea firing missiles successful a mode that sets disconnected aerial raid sirens appears intended to endanger South Koreans to unit their authorities to alteration policy," said Leif-Eric Easley, a prof astatine Ewha University successful Seoul. "North Korea's expanding subject capabilities and tests are worrisome, but offering concessions astir confederation practice oregon atomic designation would marque matters worse."
South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff earlier identified 3 of the North Korean weapons launched arsenic "short-range ballistic missiles" fired from the North's eastbound coastal municipality of Wonsan, including the 1 that landed adjacent the oversea border.
North Korean short-range weapons are designed to onslaught cardinal facilities successful South Korea, including U.S. subject bases there.
In an exigency gathering with apical information officials, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol ordered officials to instrumentality swift unspecified steps to marque North Korea look consequences for its provocation. He said helium would see the North Korean missile's landing adjacent the borderline "a virtual usurpation of (our) territorial waters."
During the exigency South Korean meeting, "participants lamented the provocations committed during our nationalist mourning play and pointed retired that this intelligibly showed the quality of the North Korean government," according to South Korea's statesmanlike office.
Earlier Wednesday, Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada told reporters that astatine slightest 2 ballistic missiles fired by North Korea showed a perchance "irregular" trajectory. This suggests the missiles are the North's highly maneuverable, nuclear-capable KN-23 missile, which was modeled connected Russia's Iskander missile.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida called North Korea's continuing rocket tests "absolutely impermissible."
U.S. and South Korean officials archer CBS News North Korean person Kim Jong-un is preparing to transportation retired an atomic trial soon arsenic it continues to make a tactical atomic weapon. A atomic trial would awesome that Kim has managed to turn his weapons programme done the Trump and Biden administrations and contempt the COVID-19 pandemic.
"We deliberation they're acceptable to go. Kim conscionable has to springiness the thumbs up," a elder U.S. State Department authoritative told CBS News.
A tactical atomic instrumentality is designed to perchance beryllium utilized connected a battlefield.
Analyst Cheong Seong-Chang astatine the backstage Sejong Institute successful South Korea said the information of equipped clashes betwixt the Koreas disconnected their occidental oregon eastbound coasts is increasing. He said South Korea needs to marque "proportional responses" to North Korean provocations, not "overwhelming responses," to forestall tensions from spiraling retired of power and perchance starring the North to usage its tactical atomic weapons.
Animosities connected the Korean Peninsula person been moving precocious successful caller months, with North Korea investigating a drawstring of nuclear-capable missiles and adopting a instrumentality authorizing the preemptive usage of its atomic weapons successful a wide scope of situations. Some experts inactive uncertainty North Korea would usage atomic weapons archetypal successful the look of U.S. and South Korean forces.
North Korea has argued its caller weapons tests were meant to contented a informing to Washington and Seoul implicit their bid of associated subject drills that it views arsenic an penetration rehearsal, including this week's exercises involving astir 240 warplanes.
In a connection released aboriginal Wednesday, Pak Jong Chon, a caput of the ruling Workers' Party who's considered a adjacent confidant of person Kim, called the alleged Vigilant Storm aerial unit drills "aggressive and provocative."
"If the U.S. and South Korea effort to usage equipped forces against (North Korea) without immoderate fear, the peculiar means of the (North's) equipped forces volition transportation retired their strategical ngo without delay," Pak said, successful an evident notation to his country's atomic weapons.
"The U.S. and South Korea volition person to look a unspeakable lawsuit and wage the astir horrible terms successful history," helium said.
U.S. and South Korean officials person steadfastly said their drills are antiaircraft successful quality and that they person nary intentions of attacking North Korea.
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