North Korea fired four ballistic missiles early on Monday, three of which landed in Japan’s economic zone in the Sea of Japan, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said, the latest in a series of provocative tests by the reclusive state.
“Multiple ballistic missiles” were launched from the Tongchang-ri region near the North’s border with China and flew about 1,000km (620 miles), South Korean military officials said, without providing the number of missiles.
“South Korea and the United States are conducting a close-up analysis,” South Korea’s Office of Joint Chiefs of Staff said. Acting president Hwang Kyo-ahn convened a national security meeting, South Korea’s presidential office said in a text message.
The United States sees no indications so far that North Korea tested an intercontinental ballistic missile in its latest launch, US officials told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing US assessment.
Japanese officials described the launches as a grave threat and said they lodged “strong protests” with nuclear-armed North Korea.
“The launches are clearly in violation of Security Council resolutions. It is an extremely dangerous action,” Abe said during lawmaker questions in parliament.
No reports of damage to shipping or aircraft had been received since the launches, Japanese officials said.
North Korea threat
North Korea had threatened to take “strong retaliatory measures” after South Korea and the United States began annual joint military drills on Wednesday that test their defensive readiness against possible aggression from the North.
Pyongyang criticises the annual drills as preparation for war against North Korea.
Last year, North Korea fired a long-range rocket from Tongchang-ri that put an object into orbit. The launch was condemned by the United Nations for violating resolutions against North Korea’s nuclear weapon program that ban the use of missile technology.
North Korea test fired a new type of missile, known as the Pukguksong-2, into the sea early last month, and has said it will continue to launch new strategic weapons.
“Not only Pukguksong-2 but newer independent strategic weapons will fly high vigorously in the sky off the ground as long as the United States and the puppet regime are going ahead with their nuclear threat to us and an exercise for invasion war against the North,” North Korea’s Rodong Sinmun newspaper, the mouthpiece of the ruling Workers’ Party said in a commentary last week.
Last month’s test was the first since US President Donald Trump was elected.
What is 4 lousy missiles compared with an army of 370,000 on NK borders?
These are routine tests and they threaten no country. Moreover, North Korea is a much more responsible country than USA and Japan.
All your talking point are belong to us.
Nowhere nearly as dangerous as Japan’s nuclear threats – Fukushima for one, US nuclear subs & carriers for another, and I’ll skip the rap about Hiroshima and Nagasaki.