North Korea Fires Two Missiles, Piling More Pressure on US

The US and South Korea last week began their largest amphibious exercise in about five years in a training drill called Ssangyong. The US Navy’s Nimitz aircraft carrier group is due to arrive in the South Korean port of Busan on Tuesday, military officials in Seoul said. The exercises and American military presence are certain to anger Pyongyang, which has already ramped up its provocations to new levels.

“The timing of the latest missile launches appears to be in protest of US-South Korean military drills and the arrival of the USS Nimitz and we can expect more to come because the regime has a technological and political reason to do so,” said Duyeon Kim, an adjunct senior fellow in Seoul at the Center for a New American Security.

She added that continued testing helps Pyongyang advance its technology, strengthens its nuclear weapons capability and increases its leverage if there is a resumption in now-stalled talks with the US.

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