Seoul, South Korea (CNN) – Both North and South Korea tested ballistic missiles on Wednesday, raising tensions exponentially in what was already one of the most volatile regions on the planet.
Pyongyang fired the first missiles on Wednesday, sending two of them into the east coast of the Korean peninsula five minutes apart, at 12:38 and 12:43 local time (11:38 am and 11 am). : 43 pm ET), according to the Japan Coast Guard.
Seoul followed the test less than three hours later by firing a new ballistic missile (SLBM) launched from the 3,700-ton ROKS Dosan Ahn Changho submerged submarine, South Korea’s Defense Ministry said. The missile achieved its target accurately, the ministry said without giving further details.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in was present during the test, the ministry said.
With the launch, South Korea becomes the seventh army in the world to successfully test an SLBM, the ministry said.
The other nations with SLBM are also nuclear powers but South Korea has no nuclear weapons.
South Korea said North Korean missiles covered a distance of about 800 kilometers (500 miles) and reached a height of 60 kilometers (37 miles).
Japan’s Defense Ministry said North Korean projectiles are believed to have fallen into waters outside its exclusive economic zone.
People watch a TV at Seoul train station showing an archive image of the launch of a North Korean missile on September 15, 2021 in Seoul, South Korea. (Photo by Chung Sung-Jun / Getty Images)
However, Japan’s Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga described North Korea’s launches as “outrageous” and added that they “threaten the peace and security of our country and region.”
While the U.S. Army’s Indo-Pacific Command in Hawaii said the North Korean test posed no “immediate threat” to the United States or its allies, it said in a statement that the launch “highlights the destabilizing impact of the DPRK’s illicit weapons program “.
Wednesday’s ballistic missile tests are Pyongyang’s first since U.S. President Joe Biden took office in January and come just days after Pyongyang said it tested long-range cruise missiles on Saturday and Sunday.
North Korea is banned from testing ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons under international law. Previous tests of this kind have faced international scrutiny and sanctions by the United Nations Security Council.
Cruise missiles are powered by jet engines. Like an airplane, they remain closer to the ground, making them more difficult to detect. Most cruise missiles are not designed to carry nuclear warheads.
In comparison, ballistic missiles operate only during a small part of their flight. They are fired in an arc trajectory that in larger versions reach outside the Earth’s atmosphere, and can handle heavier payloads, such as nuclear warheads.
The North Korean military unveiled two new missiles at the parades last October and January. One, which analysts say could be one of the largest in the world, was so large that it needed to be mounted on an 11-axle truck.
But in the most recent military parade in the North last week, no missiles were seen, the parade ranks were instead filled with weapons from the smallest variety on the battlefield.
On the South Korean side, the launch of the SLBM was one of a series of military tests conducted by the country’s army on Wednesday.
He also fired a long-range air-to-surface missile, dropping it from a plane, spreading its wings and successfully flying it towards the target, the ministry said.
This weapon, still in development, is designed to be used by South Korean FK-21 fighters, stealth aircraft that are in the prototype stage.
A statement from the South Korean Defense Development Agency also said the country had managed to develop a new ballistic missile capable of carrying a heavier and stronger warhead. The missile is designed to destroy concrete structures and tunnels, the agency said.
“This high-strength ballistic missile will increase the deterrence of our armed forces in peacetime and in crisis will be used as a central arsenal to project an overwhelming response,” the Defense Ministry said.
The ministry said a hypersonic cruise missile designed to attack enemy ships was also developed. The statement described the new hypersonic as much faster than the current missiles in South Korea’s inventory and said it would soon be deployed with South Korean military units.
CNN’s Junko Ogura and Joshua Berlinger contributed to this report.