SEOUL — The presidential office of South Korea convened an urgent security situation assessment meeting on Wednesday following North Korea's launch of a ballistic missile. The meeting, led by Yin Sung-hwan, the second deputy national security adviser, was held in response to the missile fired from the Pyongyang region toward the East Sea early in the morning.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the missile launch occurred around 5:30 a.m. but apparently failed. The Joint Chiefs of Staff are conducting an in-depth analysis of the incident, which involved what is believed to be a hypersonic missile that traveled approximately 250 kilometers before failing. This missile test followed North Korea's criticism of the USS Theodore Roosevelt's recent port call in South Korea, which Pyongyang decried as a provocative act, threatening to take new and overwhelming deterrence measures. The security meeting also addressed the issue of over 250 trash-carrying balloons launched by North Korea toward South Korea, an act of protest that has escalated tensions between the two nations.