North Korea tests missile ahead of US-South Korea drills
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- North Korea test-fired a ballistic missile from the Wonsan area toward the East Sea around 6:00 AM Wednesday, with South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff saying the missile was estimated to have fallen outside Japan's exclusive economic zone
- Japan's Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi called the launch a "threat to peace and security in our region" and said Tokyo lodged a strong protest with Pyongyang through diplomatic channels in Beijing
- The launch came two days after South Korea and the US announced their annual joint military drills would begin August 17, exercises Pyongyang routinely denounces as invasion rehearsals
- Kim Jong Un claimed after last year's drills they showed Seoul and Washington's "will to ignite a war," prompting North Korea to respond with "proactive and overwhelming" countermeasures
- This was North Korea's second missile test in less than a week, following an August 6 short-range ballistic missile launch detected by the US, South Korea and Japan — its first ballistic weapons testing since late June
- Kyungnam University's Lim Eul-chul said Pyongyang "has never simply let a South Korea-US joint military exercise pass without a response," framing the test as a signal that North Korea is closely watching the drills
Why it matters: The August 12 test is the second North Korean ballistic missile launch in under a week, fired precisely in the 2-day gap before US-South Korea drills begin on August 17. Japan has now escalated to a formal diplomatic protest through Beijing, and Japan's prime minister ordered a complete state of readiness — raising the operational tempo across Tokyo, Seoul and Washington even though no damage was reported.
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