SEOUL, November 2. /TASS/. The North Korean military on Wednesday launched at least 17 short-range ballistic missiles and ground-to-air missiles, the Yonhap news agency reported on Wednesday, citing the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff.
According to its information, the missile launches were carried out in three stages. The first was around 6:51 a.m. local time (12:51 a.m. Moscow time), when four short-range ballistic missiles were launched from the South Pyongan Province toward the Yellow Sea.
Three more were then launched around 8:51 a.m. (2:51 a.m. Moscow time) from the Kangwon Province toward the Sea of Japan. One of them was directed at the South Korean island of Ulleungdo, where an air alert was sounded.
At around 9:12 a.m., short-range ballistic missiles and surface-to-air missiles were launched from South Hamgyong Province toward the Sea of Japan and from the North Pyongan Province toward the Yellow Sea. According to estimations, roughly ten missiles were fired.
In turn, Japan’s Coast Guard informed that North Korea launched another missile, presumably a ballistic one. According to Japan's Defense Ministry, the firing took place at 4:34 p.m. local time (10:34 a.m. Moscow time).
In addition, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff reported that the North Korean military in the Kangwon Province fired about 100 artillery rounds at conditional targets in the buffer zone of the Sea of Japan around 1:27 p.m. (5:27 a.m. Moscow time). Seoul slammed this action as a violation of an inter-Korean agreement establishing the zone.
Earlier, in response to Pyongyang's ballistic missile launches, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol ordered North Korea to "pay for its provocations." The South Korean military launched three air-to-ground missiles from fighter jets into the open sea north of the northern border line around 11:10 a.m. (5:10 a.m. Moscow time) on Wednesday, as one of the North Korean missiles had earlier fallen south of that line, which Seoul regarded as the de facto sea border.