North Korea on Monday test-fired two ballistic missiles, the South Korean military said, a day after the North vowed an “aggressive and forceful” response to recent joint military drills by the United States, South Korea and Japan.
South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said the two missiles were launched from the southeastern North Korean city of Jangyon in a northeasterly direction at an interval of 10 minutes. It said the first missile traveled 600 kilometers (370 miles) and the second 120 kilometers (75 miles), but it did not say where the missiles fell.
North Korea usually launches missiles towards its eastern waters, but the distance covered by the second missile was not enough to reach this water area. South Korean media quoted an unnamed South Korean military source as saying that there is a possibility that the second missile fell into the interior of North Korea.
There was no immediate information on possible damage on North Korean soil. Reports said the first missile fell into waters near the eastern North Korean city of Chongjin.
South Korea's Joint Chief of Staff did not comment on these media reports, but said that South Korea is firmly ready to respond together with the US military to any kind of provocative action taken by North Korea.
This launch has been done at a time when the multi-sector trilateral exercise 'Freedom Edge' of South Korea, America and Japan ended in the region two days ago. North Korea's Foreign Ministry issued a statement on Sunday strongly condemning this exercise and described this partnership of America, South Korea and Japan as an Asian version of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The statement said North Korea would “resolutely defend the country's sovereignty, security and interests” by taking “aggressive and forceful countermeasures.”
Disclaimer: Sarkari Result Daily has not edited this news. This news has been published from PTI-language feed.
