(CNN) — US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned that if North Korea continues “down this path” of provocation following its launch of a ballistic missile over japan this Tuesday, “it will only increase the sentence, increase the isolation and increase the steps that are taken in response to their actions.”
Blinken made these comments during a press conference in Santiago, Chile, as part of his week-long trip to South America.
North Korea launched a ballistic missile on Tuesday that flew over and passed in front of Japan, prompting Japan to warn its citizens to take shelter. Blinken condemned the latest missile launch, calling it “dangerous and reckless.”
“We strongly condemn the DPRK’s dangerous and reckless launch of a long-range missile that flew over Japan, endangering Japanese citizens,” Blinken said. “I spoke almost immediately with my Japanese and Korean counterparts, and I think they have seen that we are working very closely, both bilaterally and trilaterally, the United States, Korea and Japan, to demonstrate and strengthen our defensive and deterrent capabilities in the face of the Korean threat. from North”.
In response, the United States held joint military exercises with South Korea and Japan separately on Tuesday. Fighters from the US Marine Corps joined fighters from the South Japan Air Defense Force in a “bilateral exercise over the Sea of Japan on October 4,” Pentagon press secretary said Tuesday. Brigadier General Pat Ryder.
South Korea and the United States held multiple joint exercises in response, first with a precision bombing exercise on Tuesday, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) announced in a statement.
A South Korean F-15K fighter jet fired two joint direct attack bombs (JDAMs) at a virtual target at a firing range west of the Korean peninsula, the JCS said. A JDAM is a precision-guided air-to-surface weapon that uses GPS to hit high-priority fixed and moving targets, according to the US Air Force.
The United States and South Korea then tested four ATACMS surface-to-surface missiles off the eastern coast of the Korean Peninsula on Wednesday, according to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The ATACMS launch was intended to show that the US and its allies have “the military capabilities in place to respond to provocations from the North,” John Kirby, strategic communications coordinator for the National Security Council, told CNN.
“This is not the first time we’ve done this in response to provocations from the North to make sure we can demonstrate our own capabilities,” Kirby said. “We want the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, he (Kim Jong Un) has not shown an inclination to move in that direction, he is frankly moving in the opposite direction by continuing to conduct these missile tests which are violations of the council’s resolutions. security”.
Blinken reiterated that the United States has asked North Korea to engage in dialogue instead of continuing provocative actions such as these missile launches.
“We have asked the DPRK to refrain from further provocations and to engage in sustained and substantive dialogue. This is something we have been proposing for many months. Unfortunately, the DPRK’s response has been to launch more missiles, but we are taking appropriate defense and deterrence measures with our allies and partners,” Blinken said.
The North Korean missile launched on Tuesday had a flight distance of about 4,500 km, an altitude of about 970 km and a top speed of about Mach 17, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said in a statement.
North Korea is now the country that has launched the most ballistic missiles in a single year since Kim Jong Un took power in 2012, according to South Korea’s Ministry of Unification and a CNN tally. Tuesday’s missile is the 23rd launch this year, which includes both ballistic and cruise missiles.
— CNN’s Yoonjung Seo, Gawon Ba and Brad Lendon contributed to this report