North Korea fires missile, flies warplanes near border as South imposes

SEOUL, Oct 14 (Reuters) – North Korea fired a short-range ballistic missile into the sea off its east coast on Friday, South Korea’s military said, the latest in a series of launches by the nuclear-armed country amid heightened tensions.

South Korea also scrambled fighter jets when a group of about 10 North Korean military aircraft flew close to their heavily fortified border, and North Korea fired some 170 rounds of artillery into “sea buffer zones” off its east and west coasts, the South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said.

South Korea’s National Security Council (NSC) condemned the North for escalating tensions, calling its moves a violation of a 2018 bilateral military pact that bans “hostile acts” in the border area.

Seoul imposed its first unilateral sanctions against Pyongyang in nearly five years, blacklisting 15 North Korean individuals and 16 institutions involved in missile development.

The JCS issued a warning to North Korea, urging it to stop provocations and escalating tension.

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol told reporters that Pyongyang has been “indiscriminately carrying out provocations,” vowing to devise “watertight countermeasures.”

Yoon’s spokesman said that his government respects inter-Korean agreements, and that scrapping the 2018 military pact hinges on Pyongyang’s behaviour.

North Korea’s military issued a statement via state media KCNA early on Friday saying that it took “strong military countermeasures,” over South Korea’s artillery fire on Thursday.

South Korea’s NSC said the firing was a “regular, legitimate” exercise.

The incidents came after KCNA said leader Kim Jong Un oversaw the launch of two long-range strategic cruise missiles on Wednesday to confirm the reliability of nuclear-capable weapons deployed to military units.

The unprecedented frequency of North Korea’s missile launches has raised concerns it may be preparing to resume testing of nuclear bombs for the first time since 2017. Some analysts do not expect any tests before neighbouring China concludes a key ruling Communist Party congress, which begins on Oct. 16.

The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said it was aware of the latest missile launch and “it does not pose an immediate threat to U.S. personnel or territory, or to our allies.”

Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said the North’s repeated missiles tests were “absolutely unacceptable,” and his country would “drastically strengthen” its defence.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said all parties should refrain from escalating tension and resume meaningful dialogue for a political solution.

FLARING TENSION

South Korea’s JCS said the latest missile was launched at 1:49 a.m. on Friday (1449 Thursday GMT) from the Sunan area near North Korea’s capital, Pyongyang, and flew about 700 km (435 miles) to an altitude…