Seoul, August 10: North Korea again on Saturday test-fired “unidentified” short-range missile off the coast of the East Sea, marking it as the fifth launch in just over two weeks, as the South Korean military.
The latest firing was an apparent mark of retaliation against the joint United States-South Korea military exercises that began last week in defiance of Pyongyang.
Two short-range projectiles were launched from the eastern coastal suburb of Hamhung in South Hamgyong province, Yonhap news agency has quoted the South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) as saying.
In an official statement, the JCS said, “Our military is monitoring the situation in case of additional launches while maintaining a readiness posture.”
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has supervised the launch and said its “military action would be an occasion to send an adequate warning to the joint military drill now underway by the US and South Korean authorities”, according to state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.
Following the launches, Pyongyang issued a statement condemning the joint US-South Korean military drills as a breach of peace agreements inked by North Korea with Seoul and Washington DC.
Meanwhile, the US stated it was aware of such kind of progressive launches under the supervision of leader Kim and that it was consulting closely with South Korea and Japan.
A top-level US administration official has told Yonhap: “We are aware of reports of a missile launch from North Korea, and we continue to monitor the situation. We are consulting closely with Japanese and South Korean allies.”