UPDATE - South Korea fires ballistic missile after Pyongyang’s missile launches

UPDATES WITH SOUTH KOREAN PRESIDENT’S REMARKS, MINOR EDITS

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ISTANBUL (AA) In a tit-for-tat move, South Korea fired a ballistic missile, the military said Friday, a few days after North Korea fired several short-range ballistic missiles.

In a statement, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said the military fired a Hyunmoo-II surface-to-surface ballistic missile into the Yellow Sea on Thursday.

It said the missile was launched in the western coastal county of Taean, 108 kilometers (67 miles) southwest of the capital Seoul.

North Korea had fired at least seven short-range ballistic missiles on Tuesday into the East Sea.

Seoul’s ballistic missile fire into the maritime waters simulated the origin of North Korea’s missile firing, the JCS statement said.

“Through this live-fire exercise, our military demonstrated its strong resolve to respond to any North Korean provocation as well as the capabilities and posture for precision strikes against the enemy's origin of provocation,” it added.

Last week on Thursday, North Korea test-fired its new Hwasong-19 intercontinental ballistic missile in what Pyongyang described as the “ultimate” version of its long-range missiles.

South Korea's military also held anti-drone drills in Seoul on Thursday. It came after North Korea accused the South Korean military of drone incursion over the capital Pyongyang last month.

The missile launches on the Korean Peninsula came amid heightened tensions as Seoul has claimed Pyongyang deployed thousands of troops to Russia which is in war with Ukraine.

In response, Seoul may review ban on arms supplies to Kyiv, warned South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, whose approval rating has dropped to 17%, which is the lowest since he took office in May 2022.

Yoon said on Friday that if North Korea attempted to carry out nuclear attack against South, a nuclear-based alliance between Seoul and Washington "will immediately strike" against Pyongyang.

”I believe that it would be irrational for them to decide to wage a nuclear attack against" Seoul, Yoon told Newsweek magazine, adding: "should they do so, the nuclear-based ROK-US alliance will immediately strike North Korea with the US nuclear weapon."

*Islamuddin Sajid contributed to this story from Islamabad.