North Korea fired a short-range ballistic missile into the East Sea on the 6th, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) detected a short-range ballistic missile launched into the East Sea from the Wonsan area of North Korea at about 5 p.m. that day. It was the 10th provocation this year and the first in 42 days.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said, "South Korea, the United States, and Japan are closely sharing information related to North Korea's ballistic missiles and maintaining full readiness."
The launch came ahead of the theater-level South Korea-U.S. combined exercise "Ulchi Freedom Shield" (UFS) scheduled for this month. North Korea has typically defined theater-level combined exercises and the deployment of U.S. strategic assets as "rehearsals for an invasion of the North" and has pushed back.
On June 25, with Kim Jong-un watching, North Korea fired tactical weapons that put the South within range, including tactical ballistic missiles and 155 mm self-propelled artillery range-extended rounds.
On the 3rd of last month, it also test-launched strategic cruise missiles from the new 5,000-ton-class destroyer "Ganggeon-ho."