Skip to main content

North Korea Fires More Ballistic Missiles, 8th In 2 Weeks: Report

North Korea Fires More Ballistic Missiles, 8th In 2 Weeks: Report

North Korea fired two ballistic missiles, when US, Japan and South Korea carried out fresh exercises.

Seoul, South Korea:

North Korea fired two ballistic missiles into the sea on Sunday, the South's military said, the latest in a blitz of launches amid tensions over US-led military exercises in the region, Yonhap reported. 

The South Korean military's joint chiefs of staff announced the launches from the southeast of the country -- the seventh and eighth in two weeks -- without giving further details.

"While strengthening our monitoring and vigilance, our military is maintaining a full readiness posture in close cooperation with the United States," the joint chiefs of staff said, Yonhap reported.

North Korea on Saturday had defended its recent flurry of missile tests as a legitimate counter to US military threats, following days of joint military exercises between the South, Japan and the United States.

The Japanese prime minister's office also confirmed at least one of Sunday's launches on Twitter. 

"North Korea has launched a suspected ballistic missile. More updates to follow," the office said.

The missiles, fired toward the East Sea, also known as the Sea of Japan, seem to have fallen outside Japan's exclusive economic zone, the Japanese government said, according to Kyodo news agency. The coast guard said it had so far not received any reports of damage to Japanese ships, national broadcaster NHK reported. 

Sunday's launches were the latest in a flurry that included an intermediate-range ballistic missile fired Tuesday over Japan, prompting an alert for people in affected areas underneath to take cover.

And on Thursday, North Korea fired two ballistic missiles, the same day Seoul, Tokyo and Washington carried out fresh exercises involving a US navy destroyer from the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier's strike group.

The United States redeployed the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to waters east of South Korea as part of a broad-ranging military response to Pyongyang's Tuesday test, which also included joint bombing and missile drills.

The carrier's redeployment prompted an angry response from the North, with the foreign ministry saying it posed "a serious threat to the stability of the situation on the Korean peninsula".

Exercises between South Korea and the United States concluded Saturday, according to Yonhap.

Seoul's military said it had scrambled 30 fighter jets Thursday after 12 North Korean warplanes staged a rare "formation flight north of the inter-Korean air boundary [and] conducted air-to-surface firing drills."

- 'Counteraction measures' -

Thursday's launches seemed to be the first time North Korea had fired missiles from Samsok, near the capital.

The recent launches were "the just counteraction measures of the Korean People's Army", Pyongyang's foreign ministry said in a statement Thursday.

Also on Thursday, the United Nations Security Council held an emergency meeting to discuss Pyongyang's Tuesday launch over Japan.

At the meeting, North Korea's longtime ally and economic benefactor China blamed Washington for provoking the spate of launches by Kim Jong Un's regime.

US ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield called for "strengthening" existing sanctions on North Korea, something China and Russia vetoed in May.

Kim has declared isolated North Korea an "irreversible" nuclear power, effectively ending the possibility of denuclearisation talks.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Adblock test (Why?)



from NDTV News- Special https://ift.tt/1rdKIWP https://ift.tt/AX74gu9
via IFTTT

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

North Korea Says It Tested New Strategic Cruise Missile

North Korea test-fired a new generation of strategic cruise missile on Wednesday. (Representational) Seoul: North Korea fired several cruise missiles towards the Yellow Sea on Wednesday, Seoul's military said, the latest in a series of tension-raising moves by the nuclear-armed state. Hours later, North Korea appeared to confirm the firing, saying it had carried out its first test of a new generation of strategic cruise missiles it is developing, the Pulhwasal-3-31. Pyongyang has accelerated weapons testing in the new year, including tests of what it called an "underwater nuclear weapon system" and a solid-fuelled hypersonic ballistic missile. "Our military detected several cruise missiles launched by North Korea towards the Yellow Sea at around 7:00 am today," the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement. Unlike their ballistic counterparts, the testing of cruise missiles is not banned under current UN sanctions against Pyongyang. Cruise...

18-Year-Old Killed By Friends Over Mobile Game Password In Bengal: Cops

According to cops, accused "friends" attempted to burn the victim after killing him. (Representational) Kolkata: An argument over sharing the password of an online mobile game allegedly led to the murder of a teenage boy by four of his friends in West Bengal's Murshidabad district, a senior police officer said. The body of 18-year-old Papai Das, who had been missing since January 8, was discovered near Nishindra Ghat of the feeder canal in Farakka on Monday, police said. Papai, a class 10 student, was reportedly killed by his four "close" friends after a disagreement over sharing the password for a mobile online game. The accused individuals have been arrested, police added. "These five individuals used to play online games at one of the quarters of the Farakka Barrage. The victim went out on the evening of January 8 and never returned. On January 9, the family lodged a police complaint. "Based on preliminary investigations, we discovered that...

"Jaiswal Has Run Ahead Of Gill": Ex-India Star's Massive T20 WC Verdict

Former India opener Aakash Chopra has suggested that Yashasvi Jaiswal is slightly ahead of Shubman Gill in the pecking order as captain Rohit Sharma's partner at the top in T20Is. Since making his debut last year, Jaiswal has been in stunning form in the shortest format of the game. Gill's form, on the other hand, has dipped since the ODI World Cup last year in India. With the T20 World Cup scheduled to be held later this year, Chopra feels Jaiswal will open the innings with Rohit during the tournament. "It's clear that Yashasvi Jaiswal has run ahead of Shubman Gill. Yashasvi is ahead in the two-horse race, Gill is lagging slightly behind. Gill was played in the first match, dropped in the second, and wasn't played in the third as well," Chopra said on his YouTube channel. Jaiswal helped India beat Afghanistan in the second T20I earlier this week, scoring a quickfire fifty. Considering his recent form across formats, Chopra emphasised that Jaiswal has ...