North Korea fires several unidentified projectiles into the Sea of Japan
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea has fired three unidentified projectiles off its east coast on Monday, South Korea’s military said.
Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement it has detected the three launches made from a town in the North’s South Hamgyong province.
“Our military detected 3 unidentified projectiles fired this morning from the Sondok area in Hamgyong Province, North Korea, toward northeast, toward the East Sea,” the South Korea Defense Ministry said in the statement. The East Sea is also known as the Sea of Japan.
The statement said South Korea’s military is monitoring North Korea for possible additional launches: “Currently, our military is monitoring related movement in case of additional launch and is maintaining preparedness.”
The launch comes after last week’s firing of two unidentified short-range projectiles from an area near the coastal city of Wonsan into waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan. Those projectiles were likely part of North Korea’s military drills for its wintertime exercise, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said.
North Korea said leader Kim Jong Un supervised those two rounds of live-fire artillery exercises, in what was its first weapons tests since late November. South Korea and some European countries protested against the launches, and the North has lashed out at it saying it has the sovereignty rights to conduct military drills.
Nuclear talks between Pyongyang and Washington remain stalled since the second summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump in Vietnam in Hanoi ended without any agreement. Last year, North Korea test-launched missiles 13 times amid stalled denuclearization talks with the United States.
Kim had entered the new year vowing to bolster his nuclear deterrent in the face of “gangster-like” U.S. sanctions and pressure. In its New Year’s Day message, Pyongyang warned it will show off a “new strategic weapon” in the near future.
Experts said the “strategic weapon” may mean an advanced type of its intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) or a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM).
