North Korea fired short-range ballistic missiles into the East Sea on the 20th, the first such launch in eight days since Sept. 12. The National Security Office of the Presidential Office convened an emergency security review meeting and urged Pyongyang to halt its provocations.
According to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, North Korea launched one ballistic missile at around 3 p.m. and another at about 5:50 p.m. from the Wonsan area toward the East Sea. The first missile flew about 450 kilometers and the second more than 600 kilometers. South Korean and U.S. military authorities are conducting a detailed analysis of the exact specifications.
The launches came eight days after the previous firing on Sept. 12 and were the 14th and 15th of the year. North Korea had fired several ballistic missiles on Sept. 12, a day after the conclusion of Freedom Edge, the regular multi-domain exercise involving South Korea, the United States and Japan.
The National Security Office held the emergency meeting with the Ministry of National Defense and the Joint Chiefs of Staff and called for an end to the provocations. The office said it "analyzed and assessed the impact of this launch on our security and reviewed necessary measures," adding that it "stressed the need for full readiness in connection with North Korea's ballistic missile launch after about a week." It also said North Korea's ballistic missile launches are "a grave act that violates United Nations Security Council resolutions" and that it "urged an immediate halt."
Separately, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visited several munitions plants from Sept. 16 to 18 and emphasized the importance of artillery, according to the North's Korean Central News Agency. "Our artillery must possess the most concentrated, destructive, mass-scale and multi-directional strike power," he said, adding that it "must carry out the twin missions of deterrence and execution."
"The enemy's military system will gradually be worn down and rendered useless by the irresistible force we already possess or will soon possess," Kim said. He set out tasks including raising the level of artificial intelligence in offensive and defensive combat weapons systems, upgrading the armoring and automation of artillery weapons, and improving production conditions and the working environment at munitions factories.
