In a week, North Korea will launch its fourth set of missile tests.

On Saturday, October 1, 2022, a TV screen playing a news programme reporting on North Korea's missile launch with file imagery can be seen at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea. According to South Korean and Japanese officials, North Korea launched two short-range ballistic missiles on Saturday toward its eastern waters, marking the fourth round of weapon launches this week that are thought to be a reaction to rivals' military exercises.

South Korea's SEOUL According to its neighbours, North Korea test-fired two short-range ballistic missiles on Saturday. This was the fourth round of weapons launches this week, which drew swift and vehement condemnation from its rivals.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol criticised North Korea's weapons programmes in an unusually harsh manner, claiming that the country's "obsession" with nuclear weapons is worsening the suffering of its own people. He also threatened a "overwhelming response" from the militaries of South Korea and the United States should these weapons be used.

Yoon stated this during an Armed Forces Day ceremony at the military headquarters in central South Korea. "North Korea hasn't abandoned its obsession with nukes and missiles despite the persistent international opposition in the past 30 years," Yoon said. "The development of nuclear weapons will cause the North Korean people greater suffering in their daily lives."

The South Korea-U.S. alliance and our military, Yoon said, "will respond with a resolute, overwhelming response if North Korea attempts to use nukes."

Yoon's remarks may infuriate Kim Jong Un of North Korea, who claimed in July that Yoon's government was run by "gangsters" and "confrontation maniacs." Yoon's offers of significant assistance in exchange for denuclearization were also rejected by Kim.

This week's testing campaign by the North is thought to be a reaction to recent naval exercises between South Korea and the US as well as other training involving Japan. Such military drills by the allies are seen as a practise for an invasion by North Korea, which claims they expose "double standards" by the U.S. and South Korea by characterising the North's weapons tests as provocative.

The military of South Korea, Japan, and the United States claimed to have discovered the two North Korean missile launches on Saturday. The liftoffs, according to South Korea, took place near the capital of North Korea.

The missiles, which landed in waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan, are believed to have travelled between 350 and 400 kilometres (220 and 250 miles) and reached a maximum altitude of 30 to 50 kilometres (20 to 30 miles), according to estimates from South Korea and Japan. Vice-minister of defence for Japan, Toshiro Ino, claimed that the missiles' trajectory was "irregular."

According to some observers, the weapons' reported low and "irregular" trajectory indicates they were probably highly manoeuvrable, nuclear-capable missiles based on the Russian Iskander missile. They assert that North Korea has created an Iskander-like weapon in order to circumvent missile defences in South Korea and the United States and strike important targets there, including American military installations.

The trajectories of the five additional ballistic missiles that North Korea launched on three separate occasions this week are similar to those seen on Saturday.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff of South Korea said in a statement that North Korea's repeated ballistic missile launches are a serious provocation that threatens the stability of the Korean Peninsula and the international community.

Ino deemed the launches "completely impermissible," adding that North Korea's recent pattern of four rounds of missile testing in a week is "unprecedented."

The launches, according to the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, highlight "the destabilising impact" of North Korea's illegitimate WMD and ballistic missile programmes.

The first trilateral anti-submarine drills between South Korea, the US, and Japan in five years took place off the east coast of the Korean Peninsula on Friday. Warships from the US and South Korea engaged in four days of bilateral training there earlier this week. This week, the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan participated in both military exercises.

The United States Vice President Kamala Harris visited South Korea on Thursday and spoke there about the country's "ironclad" commitment to the security of its Asian allies. The North Korean missile tests this week also served as a prelude to and postlude to that trip.

Since North Korea last month passed a new law authorising the preemptive use of nuclear weapons in specific circumstances, a move that demonstrates its escalating nuclear doctrine, concerns about the country's nuclear programme have increased.

Yoon stated during his speech on Saturday that the North Korean law poses a threat to South Korea's very existence. As a result, Seoul will increase its joint military drills with Washington and improve its own missile strike and surveillance capabilities.

To avoid escalating tensions, South Korean authorities often refrain from using harsh language while speaking about North Korea. The Defense Ministry of Yoon, however, recently issued a warning that North Korea would self-destruct if it used its nuclear weapons.

In an effort to increase the size of its arsenal in light of the deadlocked nuclear negotiations with the United States, North Korea has conducted a record number of missile tests this year, according to experts. North Korea is reportedly ready to perform its seventh nuclear test, the first in five years, according to South Korean and American officials.

According to experts, Kim Jong Un eventually wants to use the increased nuclear arsenal to exert pressure on other countries, including the United States, to recognise his nation as a legitimate nuclear state. He sees this recognition as being essential to obtaining the lifting of international sanctions as well as other concessions.

Ballistic missile and nuclear device testing by North Korea is prohibited by numerous Security Council resolutions. The nation's missile launches this year are perceived as taking advantage of a rift in the U.N. council over Russia's invasion of Ukraine and rivalry between the United States and China.

"North Korea's repeated tests of short-range missiles could put a burden on its limited resources. Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul, said that due to the impasse on the U.N. Security Council, they are a low-cost method for the Kim regime to express its displeasure with Washington's and Seoul's defence exercises while engaging in domestic politics to fend off an external threat.