North Korea launches ICBM before South Korea-Japan summit
Associated PressSEOUL, South Korea — North Korea test-launched an intercontinental ballistic missile Thursday just hours before the leaders of South Korea and Japan were to meet at a Tokyo summit expected to be overshadowed by North Korean nuclear threats. The North’s first ICBM test in a month and third weapons test this week also comes as South Korean and U.S. troops continue joint military exercises that Pyongyang considers a rehearsal to invade. She said the launch “needlessly raises tensions and risks destabilizing the security situation in the region.” Before heading Tokyo for a summit with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said, “North Korea’s reckless provocations will pay the clear price.” During an emergency security meeting on the North Korean launch, Yoon instructed the South Korean military to thoroughly proceed with its ongoing exercises with U.S. forces, conduct some of the planned joint drills in an intensive manner and strengthen Seoul-Washington-Tokyo security cooperation, according to Yoon’s office. “North Korea’s ICBM test on the day of the Yoon-Kishida summit may have been intended to aggravate those politics but instead makes patently clear the need for deepening security cooperation among U.S. allies.” President Joe Biden welcomed the South Korean plan as a major step toward enhancing the partnership between two of America’s closest allies, which together host about 80,000 U.S. troops. Last week, North Korea fired at least six short-range ballistic missiles from a western coastal area in an exercise that its state media called a simulated attack on an unspecified South Korean airfield.