North Korea Launches Nearly Two Dozen Missiles Toward South Korea

North Korea launched 23 missiles in the direction of South Korea on Wednesday (November 2). One of the short-range ballistic missiles landed in the sea south of a buffer zone between the two counties for the first time since 1945.

One of the missiles landed about 40 miles from the South Korean city of Sokcho, while another landed 104 miles from Ulleung, triggering air raid sirens and causing people to take cover in underground shelters.

"We heard the siren at around 8:55 a.m., and all of us in the building went down to the evacuation place in the basement," an Ulleung county official told Reuters. "We stayed there until we came upstairs at around 9:15 after hearing that the projectile fell into the high seas."

South Korea responded to the missile launches by firing three precision-strike air-to-land missiles into international waters near North Korea's territorial waters.

North Korea also fired 100 rounds of artillery into a military buffer zone between the two countries.

The latest provocation from North Korea comes two days after South Korea and the United States began a joint military training exercise called Vigilant Storm. It involved hundreds of military aircraft and is one of the largest military operations between the two nations.