North Korea said Monday it had recently conducted "military operations" including more than 80 missile launches in response to a large-scale air exercise by the United States and South Korea, vowing "overwhelming practical military measures" to continue countering their drills.
Pyongyang launched the missiles from Wednesday to Saturday, as the Vigilant Storm air exercise was taking place in South Korea, according to a report of the General Staff of the Korean People's Army carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency.
The first large joint air exercise by the United States and South Korea in five years, involving around 240 aircraft including strategic bombers and fighter jets, was originally planned for five days until Friday but was extended by a day in response to North Korea's missile launches.
The North Korean army also claimed it fired two strategic cruise missiles into international waters in the Sea of Japan around 80 kilometers off the coast of Ulsan, South Korea, on Wednesday afternoon.
However, South Korea's Defense Ministry denied the North's claim on Monday, saying no missiles had been detected in the area.
The South Korean military has said that one North Korean short-range ballistic missile fell Wednesday morning on the south side of the Northern Limit Line, the countries' de facto maritime border, for the first time since the Korean Peninsula was divided. The NLL was drawn by U.S.-led U.N. forces after the 1950-1953 Korean War.
The South Korean Defense Ministry also said Monday it has been analyzing what is believed to be debris from the ballistic missile that flew across the NLL.
On Monday, South Korea started computer-simulated training through Thursday to boost its defense capabilities.
The North Korean army also said it conducted last Thursday "important test-fire of ballistic missile to verify the movement reliability of a special functional warhead paralyzing the operation command system of the enemy."
Thursday's test-firing is believed to refer to the launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile, apparently a Hwasong-17, which the South's military presumes ended in failure, according to South Korea's Yonhap News Agency.
The North's military called Vigilant Storm a "dangerous war drill of very high aggressive nature" that was "directly targeting" North Korea, KCNA reported.
The report concluded by stating that the more "provocative" operations by the country's enemies continue, the "more thoroughly and mercilessly" its military will respond.
Meanwhile, senior diplomats of Japan, the United States and South Korea strongly condemned Monday the North's "extremely high-frequency" ballistic missile launches, saying they constitute "serious and imminent threats" to regional security and pose a "clear and grave challenge" to the international community.
Vice Foreign Minister Takeo Mori, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman and South Korean First Vice Foreign Minister Cho Hyun Dong also agreed in their phone talks to strengthen deterrence to bring about the North's denuclearization, amid fears Pyongyang could conduct its seventh nuclear test soon, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said.
