The launches came amid a flurry of activity on the peninsula, including high-level diplomatic talks and South Korea’s testing a newly developed submarine-launched ballistic missile of its own. South Korea’s military has raised its level of surveillance, and is maintaining a full readiness posture in close cooperation with the United States, the JCS added. The U.S. military’s Indo-Pacific Command said North Korea’s missile launches did not pose an immediate threat to U.S. personnel, territory, or allies, but highlight the destabilising impact of its illicit weapons programme. MISSILE RACEMoon was attending the test firing of a South Korean submarine-launched ballistic missile when word came of the North Korean launches, its first ballistic missile tests since March this year. Both Koreas have been developing a range of new missiles and other weapons, but North Korea’s ballistic missile systems have been banned by United Nations Security Council resolutions.
