Seoul, August 16: North Korea has again fired two short-range missiles into the sea on Friday, marking it the sixth launching in just a month, the South Korean military reported, a few hours after Pyongyang termed South Korean President Moon Jae-in as “impudent” and pledged inter-Korean dialogues are over.
In an official statement, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said North Korea has fired two unidentified projectiles off the east coast in retaliation to joint Washington–Seoul military drills, according to Reuters news reports.
The Japanese defence ministry has stated it didn’t see any security threat from the very latest provocation by Pyongyang via projectile launch.
Earlier in the day, North Korea dismissed a vow by Moon to pursue discussions with Pyongyang and further unify both the Koreas by 2045.
In an official statement, cited by state-run official KCNA News Agency, the North’s spokesman for the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Country said: “We have nothing to talk any more with the South Korean authorities nor have any idea to sit with them again.”
Seoul’s unification ministry described the North’s remarks over Moon “not in line” with the obligations under inter-Korean arrangements, as well as, unhelpful for establishing diplomatic and bilateral ties between both of the nations.