DPRK Conducts Second Day of Missile Provocations After Kim Yo Jong Statement

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has heightened military tensions again by continuing its propaganda attacks against South Korea and launching missiles. The Republic of Korea Joint Chiefs of Staff (ROK JCS) announced on the 8th that the DPRK fired ballistic missiles into the East Sea (Sea of Japan) in the morning and afternoon of that day. This is the first time under the Lee Jae-myung administration that the DPRK has launched ballistic missiles twice in a single day. The DPRK also fired an unidentified projectile on the morning of the 7th. That projectile disappeared in the early phase of flight, and the South Korean military is focusing on the possibility that it was a ballistic missile.
The National Security Office at the presidential office stated that, in response to the DPRK's multiple ballistic missile launches into the East Sea on this day, it convened an emergency security review meeting with relevant agencies, including the Ministry of National Defense of the Republic of Korea and the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS). The National Security Office assessed the impact of the launches on South Korea's security and reviewed necessary response measures. It also ordered the relevant agencies to further strengthen their readiness posture, noting that the situation is unfolding while war continues in the Middle East.
The office also stressed that the latest ballistic missile launches by the DPRK are a provocative act that violates United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions, and it urged Pyongyang to halt such actions immediately. The National Security Office explained, "We have reported the DPRK's latest launches and our corresponding measures to President Lee Jae Myung."
Expectations that military tensions between the two Koreas might ease following a statement on South Korea by Kim Yo Jong, a senior official of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), have been completely dashed by the DPRK's successive missile launches.
Earlier, on the 6th, Kim had referred to President Lee Jae Myung's expression of regret over the recent "DPRK-bound unmanned aerial vehicle intrusion incident," saying, "Our head of state assessed that this showed the attitude of a candid and magnanimous person."
However, through these repeated shows of force, the DPRK has demonstrated that its hostile policy toward South Korea has not changed.
In addition, around the time of the latest missile launches, Bureau 10, a DPRK Foreign Ministry bureau dealing with South Korea, labeled the Republic of Korea as its top-priority hostile state.
rainman@fnnews.com Reporter Kim Kyung-soo Reporter