SEOUL: North Korea on Thursday fired two more short-range ballistic missiles into the East Sea in response to the United States redeploying an aircraft carrier near the Korean Peninsula.

The latest missile launches suggest North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is determined to continue with weapons tests aimed at boosting his nuclear arsenal in defiance of international sanctions. Many experts say Kim's goal is to eventually win U.S. recognition as a legitimate nuclear state and the lifting of those sanctions, although the international community has shown no sign of allowing that to happen.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement that the latest missiles were launched 22 minutes from North Korea's capital region and landed between the Korean Peninsula and Japan.

The first missile flew at a distance of 350 km and the second at a distance of 800 km.

Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada confirmed that the missiles did not enter Japan's exclusive economic zone.

He added that the second missile was possibly launched on an "irregular" trajectory. It is a term that has been previously used to describe the flight characteristics of a North Korean weapon modelled after Russia's Iskander missile, which travels at low altitudes and is designed to be manoeuvrable in flight to improve its chances of evading missile defences.

South Korea's military said it has boosted its surveillance posture and maintains readiness in close coordination with the United States.

The U.S. The Indo-Pacific Command said the launches did not pose an immediate threat to the United States or its allies, but still highlighted the "destabilizing impact" of North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said North Korea's continued launches were "absolutely intolerable".

The launches were North Korea's sixth round of weapons tests in less than two weeks, adding to a record number of missile launches this year that has prompted condemnation from the United States and other countries.

South Korean officials the North may up the ante soon by testing an intercontinental ballistic missile or conducting its first nuclear test explosion since 2017 and seventh overall, escalating an old pattern of heightening tensions before trying to wrest outside concessions.

South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman Moon Hong-sik said the tests reflect Kim Jong Un's continued urgency to build a wider stockpile of nuclear weapons systems, including more powerful ICBMs, multiwarhead missiles, submarine-launched nuclear missiles and strategic nuclear warheads. North Korea is "moving according to its own timetable," he added. added

Experts said the weapon was likely a Hwasong-12 missile capable of reaching the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam and beyond.
Other weapons tested earlier included Iskander-like missiles and ballistic weapons designed to strike key targets in South Korea, including the U.S. military bases.

North Korea's Foreign Ministry said in a statement Thursday that the redeployment of the Reagan strike group poses "a serious threat to the stability of the situation on the Korean peninsula and in its vicinity." The ministry said it strongly condemns the U.S.-led efforts at the U.N. Security Council to tighten sanctions on the North over its recent missile testing, which it described as a "just counteraction" to joint U.S.-South Korean drills.

One of the early tit-for-tat launches on Wednesday nearly caused the disaster, when a malfunctioning South Korean Humu-2 missile flipped over shortly after liftoff and landed at an air base in the eastern coastal city of Gangneung. South Korean officials said there were no injuries or other damage.

After Tuesday's North Korean launch, the United States, Britain, France, Albania, Norway and Ireland called an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council. But Wednesday's session ended without consensus.

Russia and China during the meeting insisted to fellow Security Council members that U.S.-led military exercises in the region had provoked North Korea into acting.

The United States and its allies said the council's inability to reach a consensus on North Korea's record missile launches was emboldening North Korea.

North Korea has fired more than 40 ballistic and cruise missiles over more than 20 launch events this year, using the stalled diplomacy with the United States and Russia's war on Ukraine as a window to speed up arms development.