North Korea launches missiles near South Korea’s cost, they retaliate

NORTH Korea has launched missiles that landed near South Korea’s coast – the South has responded by launching their own at their northern neighbours.

North Korea’s ballistic missile landed less than 60 kilometres off South Korea’s coast on Wednesday – the first time a test has landed near the South’s waters.

The launch of at least 10 missiles from Pyongyang’s territory prompted South Korea to issue rare air raid warnings and launch missiles in protest, with President Yoon Suk-yeol calling it “effectively a territorial encroachment”.

The South’s launches came after Yoon’s office vowed a “swift and firm response” so North Korea “pays the price for provocation”.

The firings are a marked escalation in hostilities across the peninsula this year, which has already witnessed over 50 missile launches from North Korea, including one ballistic missile that passed over Japan, reports the BBC.

“President Yoon pointed out today that North Korea’s provocation is an effective territorial invasion by a missile that crossed the Northern Limit Line for the first time since the division,” his office said in a statement.

The missile launches come in the wake of the Halloween crush tragedy in South Korea’s capital of Seoul, which killed more than 150 people.

PM Yoon yesterday promised a thorough investigation into the horror stampede, which happened during Halloween festivities in the Itaewon area of South Korea on Saturday, October 29.

The country is currently observing a week of national mourning, with people laying white chrysanthemums and candles outside the Itaewon metro station exit, which is situated near where the incident occurred.