SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea fired a ballistic missile towards its japanese waters on Wednesday, South Korea’s army mentioned, a day earlier than U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris is to go to the South.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Workers mentioned it detected the North Korean missile launch however gave no additional particulars, resembling when and the place the weapon was fired and the way far it traveled.

The launch is the second by North Korea this week. Harris is to reach in South Korea on Thursday for talks with President Yoon Suk Yeol and different officers. She is also to go to the tense border with North Korea, in what U.S. officers name an try to underscore the energy of the U.S.-South Korean alliance and the U.S. dedication to “stand beside” South Korea within the face of any North Korea threats.

U.S. and South Korean navy ships are additionally conducting drills off South Korea’s east coast in a present of power in opposition to North Korea.

The four-day train, which started Monday, includes the nuclear-powered plane service USS Ronald Reagan. It’s the first coaching train by the allies involving a U.S. plane service close to the Korean Peninsula since 2017.

South Korea-U.S. joint army workout routines typically draw a livid response from North Korea, which views them as an invasion rehearsal. A brief-range North Korean missile launched Sunday was seen as a response to the U.S.-South Korean coaching.

North Korea has dialed up its testing actions to a report tempo in 2022, testing greater than 30 ballistic weapons, together with its first intercontinental ballistic missiles since 2017. North Korea is exploiting a divide within the United Nations Safety Council that deepened over Russia’s warfare in opposition to Ukraine to hurry up its arms improvement.

North Korean chief Kim Jong Un has threatened repeatedly that his nation will proactively use its nuclear weapons if threatened, rising safety issues in conventionally armed South Korea.