North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the East Sea on Sunday, just three days after it raised military tension by launching three short-range rockets into the sea, Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said.
“North Korea fired what appeared to be Scud missiles at 4:50 a.m. and 4:58 a.m. from its eastern coastal city of Wonsan, in the North’s Gangwon Province,” the JCS said. “The missiles are analyzed as having a range of about 500 km.”
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(Yonhap) |
Stressing that South Korea was strengthening its readiness posture to counter additional provocations, the JCS added that the firing came again without any prior declaration of a no-fly/no-sail zone.
The launch of the missiles came just four days before Chinese President Xi Jinping visits South Korea for summit talks with President Park Geun-hye. Analysts say that the launch appears to be designed to draw international attention toward Pyongyang.
Pyongyang fired short-range projectiles a total of 11 times this year. Most of the launches took place in February and March in an angry response to the South Korea-U.S. military exercise, which the North argues is a rehearsal for a “nuclear war of invasion.”
By Song Sang-ho (
sshluck@heraldcorp.com)
