North Korea fires unidentified projectile toward East Sea: South Korean military

Seoul, Sep 20 (IANS) North Korea fired at least one identified projectile toward the East Sea on Sunday, South Korea’s military said.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff said it detected the launch in a message to media, without providing further details.

Sunday’s launch came about a week after the North fired multiple short-range ballistic missiles from the Wonsan area toward the East Sea on Sept. 12, in a move seen as protesting against a trilateral military exercise between Seoul, Washington and Tokyo, Yonhap News Agency reported.

On September 12, North Korea fired multiple short-range ballistic missiles toward the East Sea, South Korea’s military said, just a day after South Korea, the United States and Japan wrapped up their trilateral military exercise.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected multiple ballistic missiles launched from the Wonsan area at around 5:20 am, adding that it is analysing the exact specifications with the US side.

The missiles flew about 250 kilometres before coming down in the sea, the JCS said.

South Korean and US intelligence authorities have monitored and shared the North’s movements from the early stages, and shared relevant information with Japan, the JCS said.

“Our military is closely monitoring North Korea’s various movements under a firm South Korea-US defence posture, and maintains the capabilities and readiness to overwhelmingly respond to any provocations,” it added.

The North appears to have fired its Hwasong-11 series of ballistic missiles and rounds from 600-millimetre multiple rocket launchers in successive order across several occasions, sources said.

The latest launch came after Seoul, Washington and Tokyo concluded their five-day Freedom Edge exercise in international waters east and south of South Korea’s southern island of Jeju on September 11.

The drills proceeded as planned despite Seoul and Washington having scaled back their annual combined Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS) exercise last month following an order from US President Donald Trump.

In an apparent conciliatory gesture toward Pyongyang, Trump ordered the reduction of joint military drills between South Korea and the US, saying that the drills are not only “costly” but also send a “totally inappropriate and hostile” signal to the North.

The South Korean military has stepped up surveillance to detect possible additional launches and maintains readiness on “full alert” while sharing relevant information with the US and Japan, the JCS said.

–IANS

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