North Korea escalates tension and launches two new missiles

North Korea launched two short-range ballistic missiles into the Sea of ​​Japan in the early hours of Sunday morning (local time), the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff announced.

The launch, the seventh in two weeks and the 25th so far this year, follows the conclusion of naval exercises in waters around the Korean peninsula involving a US nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, whose presence in the area has been criticized by Pyongyang.

Both missiles reached an altitude of 100 kilometers and covered a range of 350 kilometers, Japanese Defense Minister Toshiro Ino told reporters.

The first was fired around 01:47 local time (18:47 on Saturday in mainland Spain) and the second about six minutes later.

Both fell outside Japan's exclusive economic zone.

North Korea's missile launches have intensified since the arrival of the

aircraft carrier and its strike group to participate in joint exercises with South Korea and Japan.

According to a statement from Pyongyang, published this Saturday, its recent missile tests are a measure of "self-defense" against the United States.

The US Army, despite highlighting the "destabilizing impact" of the launches, considers that they have not posed any threat to its personnel or to Washington's allies.

“US commitments to the defense of the Republic of Korea and Japan remain strong,” the Hawaii-based US Indo-Pacific Command said in a statement.

On October 4, the regime that Kim Jong-un rules with an iron fist fired a ballistic missile that flew over Japan for the first time in five years, causing an alert that forced the Tokyo authorities to ask the population of two prefectures to take refuge in buildings or underground.

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