South Korea’s Foreign Ministry warned the North’s pursuit of weapons programs would only invite more sanctions, deepen its worldwide isolation, and eventually speed up its collapse.
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Exercises involve more than 50,000 South Korean troops and 25,000 U.S. service members The Ulchi-Freedom Guardian joint exercises conducted by South Korean and USA forces began on August 22. North Korea usually responds to the regular South Korea-U.S. military drills with weapons tests and fiery warlike rhetoric.
A woman uses her smartphone as a South Korean army soldier stands at Yoido Subway Station during an anti-terror drill as part of the Ulchi Freedom Guardian exercise in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2016.
The defection prompted North Korea to issue a statement calling Thae Yong Ho a criminal.
North Korea fired off a submarine-launched ballistic missile at 5:30 a.m. Wednesday morning, reports NK News. U.S. Strategic Command said it had tracked the North Korean submarine launch of the presumed KN-11 missile over and into the Sea of Japan.
South Korean defense officials believe North Korea has about 70 operational submarines and appears to be mainly imitating Russian designs to develop submarine-launched missiles.
The North is highly likely to make provocations, including terrorist attacks, against the South to stir up internal unrest and cause disorder in South Korean society, the president said in a meeting with senior security aides Monday.
The talks, held in Tokyo amid frictions between Beijing and its neighbors over territorial claims and regional security, renewed concerns over Pyongyang’s missile and nuclear tests.
The distance of the flight indicated the North’s push to develop a submarine-launched missile system was paying off, officials and rocketry experts said. But South Korean media said no land mines had been planted in the area of the truce village of Panmunjom until North Korea placed an unspecified number there last week.
It comes amid threats from North Korea of nuclear retaliation in response to large-scale US-South Korean military drills. The objective of the exercise is to “enhance Alliance readiness, protect the region and maintain stability on the Korean peninsula”, the statement said. The military sternly warns (North Korea) that the SLBM launch poses a grave challenge against the security of the peninsula, and is a severe violation of the UN Security Council resolution.
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After Thae’s defection, South Korean officials expressed apprehension of North Korea dispatching assassination squads to eliminate potential defectors overseas.
