North Korea fires at least 23 missiles in ‘effective territorial invasion’ hours after issuing veiled nuclear threat

South Korea’s president said the launches were an invasion as missiles landed south of the rivals’ disputed maritime border ‘for the first time’

Pyongyang had earlier threatened to make the US and South Korea ‘pay the most horrible price in history’ as they continue large-scale military drills

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A missile is fired from an undisclosed location earlier this year in this photo released by the North Korean government which cannot be independently verified. Photo: AP

Published: 10:25am, 2 Nov 2022Updated: 6:12pm, 2 Nov 2022

Air raid sirens sounded on a South Korean island and residents there were evacuated to underground shelters after North Korea fired at least 23 missiles on Wednesday, at least one of them in its direction and landing near the rivals’ tense sea border “for the first time”. South Korea quickly responded by launching its own missiles in the same border area.

The launches, which involved at least 23 missiles, came hours after North Korea had issued a veiled threat to use nuclear weapons to get the United States and South Korea to “pay the most horrible price in history” – an escalation of its fiery rhetoric targeting the ongoing large-scale military drills between its rivals.

“The North Korean missile launch is very unusual and unacceptable as it fell close to South Korean territorial waters south of the Northern Limit Line for the first time” since the peninsula was divided, Kang Shin-chul, director of operations for South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff told reporters. The country’s military said it had fired three precision air-to-ground missiles in response targeting the spot near the maritime border.

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol described the launch of a ballistic missile that crossed the disputed maritime border as “an effective territorial invasion”, his office said in a statement.

The South Korean military said the missiles launched on Wednesday were of various kinds and flew towards the Korean peninsula’s eastern and western coasts, but gave no further details.

In an earlier statement, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said at least one of the missiles landed in international waters 26 kilometres (16 miles) south of the Koreas’ eastern sea border and 167 kilometres (104 miles) northwest of South Korea’s Ulleung island, adding that an air raid alert had been issued on the island.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff said South Korea will not tolerate North Korean provocations and will sternly deal with them in close coordination with the US. It said South Korea has boosted its surveillance posture on North Korea.