Kim Jong-un oversees ballistic missile tests

The two short-range projectiles North Korea fired into the East Sea on Saturday were ballistic missiles and the test was overseen by leader Kim Jong-un, the North’s Korean Central News Agency said Sunday, adding the “strategic and guided weapons” would soon be operational.

The missiles flew approximately 410 kilometers and reached a peak altitude of 50 kilometers from Sonchon, along the North’s western coast.

In its third weapons launch this month, the North was suspected of flying its own adaptation of the US surface-to-surface missile ATACMS, which Pyongyang test-fired twice in August, according to the South Korean military and experts.

“The two tests the previous year were trial runs. The North called them ‘new weapons’ but now say they are ‘strategic,’ meaning the missiles have come closer to combat deployment,” said Kim Dong-yub, an analyst from Seoul’s Institute for Far Eastern Studies.

The North fired the missiles five minutes apart this time, much shorter than the average 15-minute interval seen a year ago. The missiles also demonstrated a longer range, flying from the western coast, as opposed to the eastern coast, into the East Sea.

Kim Jong-un said the Saturday launches were a clear display of the regime’s defense power. He said his country would bolster readiness to annihilate any hostile military presence and his party would work to achieve that end.

By Choi Si-young (siyoungchoi@heraldcorp.com)