SEOUL, South Korea -- North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles toward waters off its eastern coast today, adding to a recent flurry in weapons tests as the United States prepared to deploy an aircraft carrier strike group to neighboring waters to step up military exercises with the South.
South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missiles were fired from a western inland area south of the North Korean capital of Pyongyang from about 7:47 a.m. to 8 a.m. today and traveled about 229 miles before landing at sea. It condemned the missile launches as a "serious provocation" threatening regional peace and violating U.N. Security Council resolutions and added that the U.S. and South Korean intelligence departments were analyzing the launches more closely. Japan's coast guard said it believed both weapons landed outside Japan's exclusive economic zone.
The launches were the North's seventh missile event this month and underscore heightening military tensions in the region as the pace of both North Korean weapons tests and the U.S.-South Korea joint military exercises has accelerated in recent months in a cycle of tit-for-tat responses.
The allies completed their biggest springtime exercises in years last week, but North Korea is expected to further step up its testing activity as the United States moves an aircraft carrier group to the peninsula this week for another round of joint drills.
North Korea has fired more than 20 ballistic and cruise missiles across 11 launch events this year as it tries to force the United States to accept its nuclear status and negotiate a removal of sanctions from a position of strength.
North Korea's launches this month included a flight-test of an intercontinental ballistic missile and a series of short-range weapons intended to overwhelm South Korean missile defenses as it tries to demonstrate an ability to conduct nuclear strikes on both South Korea and the U.S. mainland.
The North last week conducted what it described as a three-day exercise that simulated nuclear attacks on South Korean targets as leader Kim Jong Un condemned the U.S.-South Korean joint military drills as invasion rehearsals. The allies say the exercises are defensive in nature.
The North's tests also included a purported nuclear-capable underwater drone that the North claimed is capable of setting off a huge "radioactive tsunami" that would destroy naval vessels and ports. Analysts were skeptical about the North Korean claims about the drone or whether the device presents a major new threat, but the tests underlined the North's commitment to expand its nuclear threats.
Following the North's announcement of the drone test on Friday, South Korea's air force released details of a five-day joint aerial drill with the United States last week that included live-fire demonstrations of air-to-air and air-to-ground weapons. The air force said the exercise was aimed at verifying precision strike capabilities and reaffirming the credibility of Seoul's "three-axis" strategy against North Korean nuclear threats -- preemptively striking sources of attacks, intercepting incoming missiles and neutralizing the North's leadership and key military facilities.
Information for this article was contributed by Mari Yamaguchi of The Associated Press.
FILE - U.S. Army soldiers wait to board their CH-47 Chinook helicopter during a joint military drill between South Korea and the United States at Rodriguez Live Fire Complex in Pocheon, South Korea, Sunday, March 19, 2023. South Korea's military said Monday, March 27, 2023, it detected North Korea firing at least one ballistic missile toward the sea off its eastern coast, adding to a recent flurry in weapons tests as the United States steps up its military exercises with the South to counter the North's growing threat. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon, File)
Protesters hold signs during a rally to oppose to the planned the joint military exercises between the U.S. and South Korea, in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, March 11, 2023. South Korea's military said Monday, March 27, 2023, it detected North Korea firing at least one ballistic missile toward the sea off its eastern coast, adding to a recent flurry in weapons tests as the United States steps up its military exercises with the South to counter the North's growing threat. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
A South Korean army soldier watches the North Korea side from the Unification Observation Post in Paju, South Korea, near the border with North Korea, Friday, March 24, 2023. North Korea said Friday its cruise missile launches this week were part of nuclear attack simulations that also involved a detonation by a purported underwater drone as leader Kim Jong Un vowed to make his rivals "plunge into despair." (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)