Freedom Edge

North Korea fired multiple ballistic missiles from its eastern coastal area of Wonsan at 5:20 AM on Saturday, September 12. The missiles flew about 250 kilometres (155 miles) toward the East Sea. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff detected the launch and said it is closely exchanging information with the United States and Japan.[1]

The launch came a day after South Korea concluded five days of joint maritime drills with the US and Japan, known as the Freedom Edge exercises, held in international waters off the Korean peninsula. The exercises focused on countering North Korea. Hours after they began on Monday, North Korea's defence minister, Kim Song Gi, criticised the exercise and warned that North Korea was capable of taking "strong and reflective countermeasures from the standpoint of power."[2]

South Korea's presidential National Security Office held an emergency security meeting with the Defence Ministry, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and other relevant agencies following the launch. The US Pacific Command said the launch does not pose an immediate threat to US territory or its allies, adding that Washington remains committed to the defence of South Korea and its other allies in the region.[3]

The missiles are the second barrage this month. North Korea fired a similar salvo on August 20, despite an overture from US President Donald Trump, who said he planned to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un this year. That launch came as South Korea and the US held a scaled-back edition of their annual Ulchi Freedom Shield military exercises, following an order from Trump to reduce the drills. Trump called the exercises "inappropriate and hostile" towards North Korea, a statement that alarmed US allies in the region.[4]

Pyongyang has long condemned US-South Korea joint exercises as rehearsals for invasion, often staging missile launches around the drills. North Korea slammed the Freedom Edge plans in late August as a "threat" to Pyongyang and other countries in the region. The pattern is consistent: drills happen, missiles follow. The exercises are called defensive. North Korea calls them provocative. Both sides do exactly what the other side says they will do, and neither side changes course.[5]

Meanwhile, South Korea is reportedly considering "contributions" in the Strait of Hormuz, as the US-Iran war stretches into its seventh month. The Middle East and East Asia are pulling US military attention in opposite directions simultaneously. Two wars, two sets of allies, two sets of adversaries, and one military spread thin across the Pacific.[6]