November 17, 2022: North Korea has fired two short-range ballistic missiles towards East sea, popularly known as the Sea of Japan.

 South Korea has detected the launches from the Tongchon area in Kangwon Province in North Korea on Friday.

South Korea’s military is maintaining a full awareness posture in close cooperation with The United States.

The Tongchon launch site is located some 60 KMS (37 Miles) from the Inter-Korean border. This area was closer to South Korean territory than any other launch station that North Korea has used so far.

The missiles were launched at 11:59 AM and 12:18 PM local time on Friday. The missiles flew at an estimated 230km (140 miles) at a maximum altitude of 24 KM (15 Miles) and reached top speeds of Mach 5.

The missiles were fired towards the East Sea of Japan but had landed outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), which extends up to 370 KMS (approximately 200 Miles) from the country’s coastline beyond the limits of its territorial waters.

The launches on Friday came on the final day of South Korea’s 12 days Annual “Hoguk” military exercises, which also involved an unspecified number of American troops this year.

Seoul and Washington have repeatedly warned that North Korea could be close to testing an atomic bomb for the first time since 2017, after a flurry of ballistic missile launches.

The United States, South Korea and Japan warned that there would be consequences if North Korea tests a nuclear weapon.

The US Indo-Pacific Command said that the North Korea’s missile launch was unlawful and that The United States’s commitment to defending South Korea and Japan was ironclad.