North Korea fires missiles after US VP Harris leaves South Korea
Al JazeeraNorth Korea conducts its third ballistic missile launch in five days, hours after US Vice President Harris leaves South Korea. North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the sea on Thursday, hours after US Vice President Kamala Harris flew home from a visit to South Korea during which she emphasised the “ironclad” US commitment to the security of its Asian allies. Speaking at the DMZ, Harris said the US commitment to South Korea’s defence was “ironclad”, adding that the allies were “aligned” in their response to the growing threat posed by the North’s weapons programmes. Harris described the North Korean missile launches as provocations meant to “destabilise the region” and said the US and South Korea remain committed to the “complete denuclearisation” of the North. Al Jazeera’s Rob McBride, reporting from Paju in South Korea, said the last significant visit to the DMZ was in 2019, when former US President Donald Trump met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.