Seoul has said North Korea fired more than ten missiles off its eastern and western coasts hours after issuing a veiled threat to use nuclear weapons against the US and South Korea. The escalation in animosities between the rivals saw South Korea issue an air raid alert for an eastern island, with residents there evacuated to underground shelters.
After the North fired the missiles in its direction on Wednesday morning, South Korea quickly responded by performing its own missile tests. Seoul said it conducted the air-to-surface missile tests to show its determination to get tough on North Korean provocations. South Korea’s military said its fighter jets fired three precision-guided missiles to sites near the rivals’ eastern sea border.
In an emergency meeting with top security officials, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol ordered officials to take swift unspecified steps to get North Korea to face consequences for its provocation. He said he would consider the North Korean missile’s landing near the border “a virtual violation of (our) territorial waters”.
