S.Korea, US conduct joint missile drills

South Korea and the US on Wednesday conducted joint ballistic missile exercises a day after North Korea declared a successful test of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), a media report said.

Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said in a statement that the missile units of South Korea and the US carried out the joint ballistic missile drills in the East Sea at 7 a.m. in response to Pyongyang's repeated provocations, Xinhua news agency reported.

The joint exercises mobilised the South Korean military's Hyunmoo-II ballistic missiles and the eighth US Army's ATACMS ground-to-ground missiles to show their combined capability in emergency situations, the statement said.

The joint missile drills followed Pyongyang's claim on Tuesday that it successfully test-fired a new type of ICBM, called Hwasong-14, which flew about 930 km and was lofted as high as some 2,800 km.

The joint drills were conducted as South Korean President Moon Jae-in proposed it to US President Donald Trump, Yoon Young-chan, Moon's senior press secretary, told reporters.

Moon said it would be necessary to clearly show the South Korea-US combined missile preparedness to Pyongyang as just announcing a statement was not enough.

--IANS

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