Seoul Says North Korea Fired Four Ballistic Missiles Into Sea Of Japan
MEP: North Korea has fired four ballistic missiles into the sea off Japan’s northwest coast, South Korean and Japanese officials said, days after the reclusive state promised retailiation over US-South Korea military drills it sees as a preparation for war.
Earlier, the Yonhap news agency reported that North Korea had fired a single “unidentified projectile” off the country’s east coast. After reviewing data, the South Korean military revised the count to four projectiles.
The missiles were fired early Monday morning, according to the South Korean military, which said they were unlikely to have been intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM).
Military authorities in South Korea, Japan and the United States all confirmed the launch of projectiles, which traveled almost 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) towards the Sea of Japan, also known as the East Sea. One US official said they were intermediate range missiles.
Some of the missiles landed in waters as close as 300 km (190 miles) from Japan’s northwest coast, Japan’s Defence Minister Tomomi Inada said in Tokyo.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said “strong protests” had been lodged with nuclear-armed North Korea.
“The launches are clearly in violation of (United Nations) Security Council resolutions. It is an extremely dangerous action,” Abe told parliament.
South Korea’s acting president, Hwang Kyo-ahn, condemned the launches and said the country would swiftly deploy a US anti-missile defence in the face of angry objections from China.
North Korea’s missile launches coincided with massive joint military drills being carried out by the US and South Korea on the Korean Peninsula. The war games have been condemned by Pyongyang as “dangerous nuclear war drills against the DPRK at its doorstep.”
