June 7, 2022: -South Korea and the U.S. fired eight surface-to-surface missiles early on Monday off the east coast of South Korea after North Korea launched a barrage of short-range ballistic missiles on Sunday, a South Korea defense ministry official said.

The action demonstrates “the capability and readiness to carry out precision strike” against the source of the missile launches or the command and support centers. Yonhap news agency of South Korea cited the South Korean military says.

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, who took office the previous month, vowed to take a tougher line against the North and agreed with Joe Biden at a summit in Seoul to develop joint military drills and their combined deterrence posture.

The South Korean militaries and the U.S. fired eight surface-to-surface missiles for about 10 minutes beginning at 4:45 a.m. on Monday in response to the eight missiles fired by the North on Sunday, Yonhap reported.

An official from the Defense Ministry of North Korea confirmed eight Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) had been fired.

U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said the exercise included one U.S. Army missile and seven from South Korea.

“The ROK-U.S. Alliance remains committed to peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula and throughout the Indo-Pacific. The U.S. commitment to the defense of the ROK remains ironclad,” it said in a statement, which uses the initials of the official name of South Korea.

The North’s short-range ballistic missiles, fired toward the sea off its east coast, were probably its most significant single test and came a day after South Korea and the U.S. ended joint military drills.

The South Korea-U.S. bilateral exercises involved an American aircraft carrier for the first time in over four years.

Japan and the U.S. conducted a joint military exercise on Sunday in response to the recent North Korean missile tests.

North Korea, which is a few weeks into battling its first known outbreak of Covid-19, has criticized previous joint drills as an example of Washington’s continued “hostile policies” toward Pyongyang, despite its talk of diplomacy.

This year, North Korea has conducted a flurry of missile launches, from hypersonic weapons to tests of its most giant intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) for the first time in five years.

Yonhap, citing an unidentified source, said the volley on Sunday was launched from four locations, which include Sunan in the capital, Pyongyang.

North Korea continued with its latest trend of not reporting on missile launches in state media, which a few analysts have said is meant to show that they are doing it as part of routine military drills.