SEOUL: North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the sea off its east coast on Monday, South Korea’s military said.
The ballistic missiles fire is the latest in a series of launches carried out by isolated North Korea. The missiles were fired from the province of North Hwanghae at 7:47 am and flew about 370 kilometres, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said.
The Japanese government said both missiles appeared to have landed outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone.
Monday’s launches came as the US States aircraft carrier USS Nimitz and ships from its accompanying strike group are arranged to dock at a South Korean naval base in the port city of Busan on Tuesday.
Before its arrival, the carrier was to stage joint maritime exercises with South Korean forces on Monday off the Korean peninsula’s south coast, South Korea’s defence ministry said.
The ministry said the carrier’s planned visit, which marks the first since the USS Ronald Reagan visited in September, was arranged as part of efforts to have more United States “strategic assets” in place to deter North Korea.
North Korea repeated missile launches
South Korea’s military “strongly condemned” North Korea repeated missile launches as a grave provocation violating United Nations (UN) Security Council resolutions and called for a swift halt.
“We will keep a close eye on North Korea’s several activities and continue firm readiness posture based on the capability to respond to any provocations overwhelmingly,” the JCS said in a statement, adding that it would continue military drills with the United States as planned.
The government of Japan lodged a “strong protest” with North Korea, saying its missile launches threaten the safety and peace of Japan, the region, and the international community.
