North Korea launch: Kim Jong-un’s sister threatens US with Pacific ‘firing range’

North Korea launched two short-range ballistic missiles on Monday morning as Kim Jong-un’s powerful sister threatened to turn the Pacific into a “firing range” if the United States and South Korea continue with joint military drills.

The test-fire of weapons described by state media as “tactical nuclear” rockets comes just two days after North Korea launched an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) into waters within Japan’s exclusive economic zone, prompting the US to hold joint air exercises with Japan and South Korea.

Monday’s missiles landed 209 and 245 miles from North Korea’s eastern coastline, outside of Japanese waters, but Kim Yo-jong, the influential younger sibling of the reclusive leader, warned of more to come if the US did not change its course of action.

“The frequency of using the Pacific as our firing range depends upon the US forces’ action,” read a statement attributed to Kim, a trusted adviser within Pyongyang’s elite.

Kim Yo-jong warned that the "US and South Korea should prepare to defend themselves and would face an “overwhelming response” to perceived “hostility”. Photo / AP

“We affirm once again that there is no change in our will to make the worst maniacs escalating the tensions pay the price for their action.”

“The state-run Korean Central News Agency reported that “the 600mm multiple rocket launcher mobilised in the firing … is a means of tactical nuclear weapon” capable of “paralysing” an enemy airfield.

Monday’s missile launch is the reclusive nation’s third major weapons test since January, after an unprecedented barrage of missile tests in 2022, that included the monster Hwasong-17 ICBM, which could be capable of striking the United States.

“Ms Kim claimed a successful test on Saturday of the Hwasong-15, which has a similar striking range. The US and South Korea should prepare to defend themselves and would face an “overwhelming response” to perceived “hostility”, the statement warned.

On Monday, Fumio Kishida, Japan’s prime minister, said he had requested an emergency UN Security Council meeting, although prospects for a new round of UN sanctions appear to be slim due to previous vetoes by Russia and China, whose ties with Pyongyang are warming.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff strongly condemned the launches as a “grave provocation” that should be ceased immediately.

Seoul announced later on Monday that it would impose additional unilateral sanction on four individuals and five institutions involved in the secretive regime’s nuclear and missile development programmes or helping Pyongyang evade sanctions.

The US Indo-Pacific command stressed the “destabilising impact” of North Korea’s unlawful weapons programmes.

Later this week, the US and South Korea will hold simulated nuclear tabletop exercises at the Pentagon, followed by an annual springtime “Freedom Shield” field training to practice “realistic” scenarios linked the nuclear threat from the North.

Tensions have been rising on the Korean Peninsula since the collapse of peace talks between Washington and Pyongyang in 2019 and amid an ongoing expectation that the North could trigger a seventh nuclear test.

South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin told the Munich Security Conference on Saturday: “If North Korea conducts the seventh nuclear test, which could happen at any time, it will be a game changer in a sense that North Korea could develop and deploy tactical nuclear missiles.”