Seoul (TIP): North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles toward the sea off its east coast on Saturday, hours before South Korea staged a large military show, displaying stealth fighters and its own missiles. Pyongyang’s fourth launch in a week comes amid a flurry of military muscle-flexing by countries in the region, including joint anti-submarine exercises on October 7 by the navies of South Korea, the US and Japan. US Vice President Kamala Harris visited the region this week, meeting with South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol in Seoul on October 6. The rival Koreas are in a regional arms race that has seen a major increase of weapons and military spending. Marking South Korea’s 74th Armed Forces Day, Yoon condemned what he called recent military provocations by the North and vowed to strengthen joint military drills with the US. “The government will further strengthen the Korea-US joint exercises,” he said. — Reuters