par Hyonhee Shin
SEOUL, March 15 (Reuters) – U.S. forces stationed in South Korea said on Tuesday they had stepped up the intensity of drills for their Patriot missile defense system amid signs that North Korea could soon carry out a new long-range missile test.
Tension on the Korean Peninsula has increased following speculation that North Korea may test its largest intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) this week after threatening to break the 2017 moratorium on nuclear and missile testing. long range.
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The US military command in South Korea (USFK) said its air defense artillery brigade stationed in Osan had recently increased the intensity of its certification exercise following missile tests by Pyongyang.
“The significant increase in the missile testing activity of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) undermines peace, security and destabilizes the Northeast Asian region,” the statement said. USFK.
The increased intensity of the drills “underscores USFK’s seriousness about the DPRK’s recent missile launch behavior”, the US military command added.
South Korea is also closely monitoring the movements of its northern neighbor and maintaining a strong preparedness posture jointly with the American military, said a spokesman for the South Korean Ministry of Defense.
Washington and Seoul said in a rare joint announcement on Friday that Pyongyang, under the guise of test-launching satellites, used a new intercontinental missile system in two recent launches.
But those firings did not demonstrate the missile’s full power, with analysts believing North Korea may have used only one stage of the ICBM or adjusted its fuel volume to fly at low altitudes.
(Report Hyonhee Shin, French version Laetitia Volga, edited by Sophie Louet)
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