N.Korea Fires Missiles close to South’s Waters, Days after U.S. Kicks off Drills with Seoul

North Korea fired off a barrage of over 20 missiles of various types from its east and west coasts on Wednesday, including one that landed near the Northern Limit Line (NLL) for the first time since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.

One of the short-range ballistic missiles (SRBMs) fired by the North from Wonsan on Wednesday morning landed near Seoul’s territorial waters. It marked the first time since the two Koreas' division that Pyongyang sent a ballistic missile southward past the NLL.

South Korea’s military has called it an “intolerable” act. "North Korea's missile launch, which marks the first time since the division of the peninsula that has landed near our territorial waters south of the Northern Limit Line, is very rare and intolerable," the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said in a statement. "Our military vowed to respond firmly to this (provocation).”

The incident comes after South Korea and the U.S. kicked off large-scale, five-day joint air drills on October 31. The Vigilant Storm exercise has more than 240 aircraft participating, including their advanced stealth jets.

Seoul has deployed some 140 planes, including F-35A stealth fighters, and F-15K and KF-16 jets, while the U.S. is dispatching about 100 assets, including F-35B stealth fighters based in Okinawa, Japan, and EA-18 electronic warfare aircraft, as well as KC-135 tankers and the U-2 high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft.