North Korea’s military fired a short-range ballistic missile into the Sea of Japan off its eastern shore in a sign of its continuing petulance as Vice President Kamala Harris upcoming visit to South Korea nears and a joint US-South Korea military readiness exercise is set to kick off, Reuters reports.
With the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier and its support ships arriving in the region for a scheduled military exercise starting Monday that will last through Thursday, the North Koreans fired a missile in its first missile test since firing eight on one day in early June. South Korean media is also report the North is planning to fire one of its new submarine-based missile in the coming days.
Vice President Harris is scheduled to arrive in Seoul following a trip to Japan, where she will attend the state funeral of murdered former Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo, who was shot by an assassin using a homemade shotgun in July. Harris will lead a delegation that includes Rahm Emmanuel, the current U.S. ambassador to Japan; Katherine Tai, the U.S. trade representative; Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., who served as ambassador to Japan under former Donald Trump. While in Japan, Harris will meet with leaders of the Japanese, Australian and South Korea before traveling to South Korea on Thursday.