North Korea Fires Ballistic Missile 1 Day After Zelensky Warns Japan, South Korea, Philippines

North Korea fired a ballistic missile off its east coast toward the Sea of Japan early Wednesday, Aug. 12 – just over a day after President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that Pyongyang’s growing combat experience alongside Russia could pose an increasing threat to Japan, South Korea and the Philippines. The missile was launched from the Wonsan area at around 6 a.m. local time and flew roughly 700 kilometers before landing outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone, according to South Korean and Japanese authorities.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. “Our military detected at around 6:00 am a ballistic missile launched by North Korea from the Wonsan area towards the East Sea,” Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a message to reporters, referring to the body of water also known as the Sea of Japan. Japan’s Defense Ministry also confirmed the launch, while Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said Tokyo had lodged a strong protest with North Korea through diplomatic channels and condemned the launch. The missile reached a maximum altitude of about 90 kilometers before falling into the sea, according to Japanese authorities. The launch comes days before South Korea and the US begin the annual Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises, major joint drills aimed at strengthening their ability to respond to North Korea’s expanding nuclear and missile capabilities. The exercises are scheduled to run from Aug. 17 to 27 and will include around 18,000 South Korean troops alongside personnel from the roughly 28,500 US troops stationed in the country. Other Topics of Interest North Korea Arms Russia, South Korea Says No to Ukraine Weapons South Korea has provided Ukraine with humanitarian assistance and support, but has maintained a policy of withholding lethal weapons. Pyongyang routinely condemns US-South Korean military exercises as rehearsals for an invasion and has repeatedly staged missile launches around previous drills. “North Korea has never simply let a South Korea-US joint military exercise pass without a response,” Lim Eul-chul, a North Korea expert at Kyungnam University, told AFP. “This is a message that Pyongyang is closely watching the upcoming drills and could stage a provocation if it deems one necessary.” 1 day after Zelensky warns Japan, South Korea and Philippines The launch took place just over a day after Zelensky specifically named Japan, South Korea and the Philippines while warning about the consequences of North Korea gaining weapons improvements and battlefield experience through its deepening military cooperation with Russia. “For the first time, they cannot wage war without reinforcements from North Korea,” Zelensky said in his Monday evening address, adding that Moscow was preparing to receive another North Korean military contingent and had obtained additional ballistic missiles from Pyongyang. Zelensky warned that North Korea is not simply supplying weapons for Russia’s war against Ukraine – it is also gaining an opportunity to test and improve them under real combat conditions. “The more North Korean strikes there are here in Ukraine, in Europe, the more their missiles and soldiers are used, the more they correct their shortcomings and blind spots, the greater the danger will later be for Japan, the Republic of Korea, the Philippines, and other countries in the region,” Zelensky said. His warning came as Kyiv says Russia is increasingly relying on North Korean ballistic missiles, ammunition and troops to sustain its invasion. Zelensky said Moscow had received another shipment of North Korean ballistic missiles and was preparing an additional North Korean troop deployment on Russian territory. Ukraine also accused Russia on Tuesday of using a North Korean ballistic missile in a deadly strike on Zaporizhzhia. Reuters reported that the attack killed seven workers at a steel plant. North Korean troops fighting alongside Russian forces have also gained direct experience of modern warfare, including drones, electronic warfare and combat against a military equipped with Western weapons. That experience is now influencing military planning thousands of kilometers from Ukraine. Colonel Ryan Donald, spokesman for the US and South Korean Combined Forces Command, said Monday that North Korean troops had taken lessons from their deployment in Europe back home. “Our training accounts for that threat,” he told reporters. Pyongyang pressures Seoul and Tokyo Wednesday’s missile launch was North Korea’s second ballistic missile test in less than a week. Pyongyang had fired another missile on Aug. 6. The latest launch also follows increasingly hostile rhetoric toward Japan. North Korean state media on Tuesday attacked Japan’s latest defense white paper, accusing Tokyo of using the North Korean threat to justify rebuilding its military power. Japan, which maintained a largely pacifist defense posture for decades after World War II, has been significantly increasing military spending, expanding defense cooperation and deploying additional missile capabilities amid growing concerns about China and North Korea. Koizumi said last week that Japan needed to strengthen its military with a “sense of urgency and crisis.” For Kyiv, the connection between the wars and security threats in Europe and Asia is becoming increasingly direct. Zelensky’s argument is that every North Korean missile or soldier deployed in Russia’s war gives Pyongyang experience it can later apply closer to home – precisely the concern he raised about Japan, South Korea and the Philippines little more than a day before North Korea’s latest ballistic missile launch. 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