FOLLOWING ITS CONDEMNATION OF THE UN MEETING AND US DRILLS, NORTH KOREA LAUNCHES TWO SHORT-RANGE BALLISTIC MISSILES

Following the return of a US aircraft carrier to the area and a meeting of the UN Security Council in response to the North's recent launches, North Korea launched two short-range ballistic missiles into the sea on Thursday, which were aimed towards Japan.

The missile launch was the first since North Korea fired an IRBM over Japan on Tuesday, which sparked joint US and South Korean missile drills in which one weapon crashed and burned. It was the sixth missile launch in the previous 12 days.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff of South Korea and the Japanese government both reported the launch.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters, "Just counting the ones from the end of September, this is the sixth time in the short period." "This can in no way be tolerated."

About an hour prior to the launch, North Korea condemned the US for bringing up its "just counteraction measures of the Korean People's Army on south Korea-US joint drills" in the UN Security Council, implying that its missile launches are a response to the allied military actions.

North Korea also criticised Washington for moving a U.S. aircraft carrier off the Korean peninsula, claiming that it constituted a major threat to the stability of the situation in a statement issued by the reclusive country's foreign ministry.

In response to North Korea's IRBM launch over Japan, the USS Ronald Reagan and its strike group of accompanying warships were abruptly redeployed.

According to a State Department official, the United States strongly condemned Thursday's launch, describing it as a breach of UN Security Council resolutions and a danger to both the international community and the region's neighbours.

However, the official stressed that Washington is dedicated to using a diplomatic approach and urged the North to start a discussion.

On Wednesday, the United States accused China and Russia of supporting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un by blocking efforts to tighten sanctions against Pyongyang over its programs of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.

Yoon Suk-yeol, the president of South Korea, told reporters that his nation will maintain its security through its alliance with the United States and cooperation with Japan. Yoon Suk-yeol is scheduled to call Kishida on Thursday.