North Korea fires ballistic missiles towards the sea in the run-up to the US elections

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea fired a barrage of short-range ballistic missiles into the sea on Tuesday, its neighbors said, as it continued its weapons demonstrations hours earlier. the American presidential elections.

Japanese Defense Minister General Nakatani said at least seven North Korean missiles flew up to 400 kilometers (250 miles) with a maximum altitude of 100 kilometers (60 miles). He said they landed in the waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan.

“North Korea’s actions, including a series of repeated missile launches, threaten the peace and security of Japan, the region and the international community,” Nakatani said.

The South Korean military also detected several missile launches by North Korea and subsequently strengthened its surveillance posture. The North Korean missiles could be used to attack key facilities in South Korea, including U.S. military bases there.

The launches came days after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un oversaw a test flight the country’s newest intercontinental ballistic missile d intended to reach the American mainland. In response to that launch, the United States flew a long-range B-1B bomber in a trilateral exercise with South Korea and Japan on Sunday in a show of force. That led to condemnation from Kim’s powerful sister Kim Yo Jong, who on Tuesday accused North Korea’s rivals of raising tensions with “aggressive and adventurous military threats.”

South Korean officials have said North Korea is likely to step up its military action around the U.S. presidential election attracts Washington’s attention. South Korea’s military intelligence said last week that North Korea has also likely completed preparations for that seventh nuclear test.

Outside officials and analysts say North Korea eventually hopes to use an expanded nuclear arsenal as leverage to gain concessions such as sanctions relief after a new U.S. president is elected.

There are widespread views that Kim Jong-un would prefer a Republican candidate win Donald Trumpwith whom he engaged in high-stakes nuclear diplomacy in 2018-2019, seeing him as a more likely counterpart to give him what he wants than the Democratic candidate Kamala Harris. During her campaign, Harris said she will not “couch with tyrants and dictators like Kim Jong Un who favor Trump.”

North Korea claimed the Hwasong-19 it tested on October 31 was “the strongest” ICBM in the world, but experts say the solid-fuel missile is. too big to be useful in war. Experts say North Korea still needs to acquire some crucial technologies to build a functioning ICBM, such as ensuring the warhead survives the harsh conditions of atmospheric reentry.

Tensions between the Koreas are at their highest point in years as Kim has repeatedly flaunted his growing nuclear weapons and missile programs while reportedly Supplying Russia with ammunition and troops in support of President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine.

On Monday, US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters that as many as 10,000 North Korean soldiers were in Russia’s Kursk region near the Ukrainian border and were preparing to join the forces in the coming days Moscow’s struggle against Ukraine. If they were to engage in combat, it would be North Korea’s first participation in a full-scale conflict since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.

After a meeting in Seoul on Monday, senior officials of South Korea and the European Union expressed concern about Russia’s possible transfer of technology to North Korea to boost its nuclear program in exchange for its troops. Such transfers would “jeopardize international nonproliferation efforts and threaten peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and around the world,” they said.

In response to North Korea’s growing nuclear threat, South Korea, the United States and Japan have expanded their joint military exercises. North Korea has portrayed such US-led military exercises as rehearsals for an invasion and used them to justify its relentless pursuit of nuclear weapons and missiles.

At a U.N. Security Council meeting Monday, North Korean Ambassador Kim Song defended the North’s nuclear and ICBM programs as a necessary response to what the country sees as nuclear threats from the United States. U.S. Deputy Ambassador Robert Wood warned that the U.S. cannot stand back “without response” from North Korea’s expanding nuclear program and the growing threat to U.S. security.

Wood also reiterated last week’s call for Russia to say whether there are North Korean troops on the ground in Russia. “We are not sitting here in a court of law,” replied Russian Deputy Ambassador Anna Evstigneeva, “and the questions from the United States, in the spirit of an interrogation, are not something I intend to answer.”

Yamaguchi reported from Tokyo. Associated Press writer Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.