North Korea has fired multiple ballistic missiles towards waters off its east coast, South Korea and Japan said on Wednesday, extending a series of recent test-launches.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said North Korea fired an additional unidentified missile at around 2.20pm (0520 GMT) on Wednesday from the Wonsan area towards waters off its east coast.
It comes a day after Pyongyang test-fired several short-range ballistic missiles from near the same area. Those missiles flew about 240km (150 miles), the JCS said, prompting a detailed analysis from South Korean and US authorities monitoring the situation.
But the Japan Coast Guard said the latest missile fell into the sea only about 10 minutes after launch. Tokyo said no missiles entered its territorial waters or exclusive economic zone.
The missile flew eastwards before it showed signs of “abnormality” in the early stage of its flight and disappearing, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported citing military officials.
Condemning the test-launch, Japan’s chief cabinet secretary Minoru Kihara said Pyongyang’s actions “threaten peace and security in the region and the international community”.
Shortly after the missile launch, South Korea’s presidential Blue House convened an emergency National Security Council meeting. It said the earlier launches from Pyongyang were a provocation that violated UN Security Council resolutions, according to media reports. It urged Pyongyang to end such tests.
These were North Korea’s fourth, fifth and sixth ballistic missile launches this year, following two launches recorded in January and a third test-launch in March.
Experts monitoring the test-launches say they are now a routine part of Kim Jong Un’s weapons development programme. Specific tests could be linked to “ongoing engine and propulsion testing, including work on solid-fuel systems,” said Kim Dong-yup, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.
The launches also come amid a series of confusing mixed messages from North Korea towards its southern neighbour, at times welcoming and at other times rebuffing conciliatory outreach from the government in Seoul.
Two days earlier, Mr Kim’s influential sister Kim Yo Jong praised the efforts of South Korean president Lee Jae Myung to crack down on civilian drone incursions into North Korea’s territory as “very fortunate and wise”. Ms Kim said his remorse over the drone launches by private individuals showed him to be an “honest and bold person”.
Yet barely 24 hours later Jang Kum Chol, a senior official at North Korea’s foreign ministry, said the South was engaging in wishful thinking if it thought Pyongyang was ready to see Seoul as anything other than an enemy.
“The identity of the ROK, the enemy state most hostile to the DPRK, can never change with any words or conduct,” Jang said, according to a report by state media KCNA late on Tuesday, using the acronyms for the formal names of South and North Korea.
Both Koreas remain technically at war after their 1950 to 1953 conflict ended in a truce.
