According to Seoul officials, South Korea scrambled 30 military aircraft in retaliation after North Korea on Thursday flew 12 airplanes close to their shared border.
The exceedingly uncommon incident occurred hours after North Korea conducted its sixth series of missile tests in less than two weeks by launching two ballistic missiles into the ocean.
The military of South Korea reported that eight North Korean fighter planes and four bombers flew in formation and seemed to have practiced air-to-surface shooting.
The military reported that South Korea retaliated by launching 30 fighter jets and other aircraft, however, they avoided fighting with the North Korean planes.
According to South Korean media, the North Korean planes were many miles from the border.
Yonhap news agency reported that although North Korea has previously sent military aircraft close to the border, this is probably the first time it has gathered this many aircraft for such a provocative fly and shooting practice.
As a result of North Korea’s recent barrage of missile launches, which caused South Korea, the US, and Japan to conduct joint maneuvers in retaliation, tensions on the Korean Peninsula have increased significantly.
North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles earlier on Thursday toward its eastern waters.
The launches followed the redeployment of an aircraft carrier by the US close to the Korean Peninsula in retaliation for North Korea’s launch of a nuclear-capable missile earlier this week over Japan.
This year, North Korea tested more missiles than ever before. According to South Korean officials, the North may intensify tensions by testing an intercontinental ballistic missile or carrying out its first nuclear test explosion since 2017, continuing a long-standing pattern of inflaming tensions before attempting to extract concessions from the outside world.
According to some experts, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is determined to increase his nuclear arsenal despite international sanctions.
Although Washington and its allies have shown no signs of doing so, they claim that North Korea’s objective is to eventually obtain American recognition as a legitimate nuclear state and the easing of sanctions.
According to a statement from the Joint Chiefs of Staff of South Korea, the most recent missiles were fired 22 minutes apart from North Korea’s capital region and landed between the Korean Peninsula and Japan.
The first missile traveled 350 km (217 miles) and reached a maximum height of 80 km (50 miles), and the second missile traveled 800 km (497 miles) and had an apogee of 60 km (37 miles).
Yasukazu Hamada, the defense minister of Japan, suggested that the second missile may have been fired on an “irregular” trajectory.
It is a word that has been used to characterize the flight characteristics of a North Korean weapon based on the Iskander missile deployed by Russia.
This missile flies at low altitudes and is made agile while in flight to increase its chances of avoiding missile defenses.
JOIN US ON WHAT'SAPP, TO GET INSTANT STATUS UPDATES AND BE IN THE KNOW.
CLICK HERE
