North Korea fired several short-range ballistic missiles on Thursday, the South said, and Pyongyang mocked US “servant” Seoul, after President Donald Trump suggested he would meet Kim Jong Un this year.
Seoul says there are around 80-120. Hours after Trump’s remarks, North Korea fired more than 10 short-range ballistic missiles from the Pyongyang area towards the East Sea at around 5:00 pm (0800 GMT), South Korea’s military said. The missiles flew around 300 kilometres (186 miles), the Joint Chiefs of Staff said, adding that South Korean and US authorities were conducting a detailed analysis of their specifications.
The US president also said it was important to “get along” with Kim, adding that Pyongyang now had 57 “very powerful” nuclear weapons. Hours after the launches, Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of the North Korean leader, said Trump’s decision to scale back the drills with South Korea was Seoul’s comeuppance.
She called it in a statement “an evident disaster brought by the unrealistic and anachronistic security outlook” pursued by Seoul, arguing the South had a “master-and-servant” relationship with the United States. South Korea’s dovish President Lee Jae Myung — who has long pushed for stronger homegrown defences to reduce Seoul’s military reliance on the United States — said on Wednesday he would “do his utmost” to support Trump’s peacemaking efforts with the North. South Korea’s Defence Minister Ahn Gyu-back said Seoul remained opposed to officially recognising the North as a nuclear-weapon state.
