The latest launch by Pyongyang comes as a prolonged hiatus in disarmament talks with the United States drags on.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (Photo: IANS)
North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles off its east coast on Sunday, the fourth such launch this month as the world battles the coronavirus pandemic.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement, “Two projectiles were fired eastwards from the port city of Wonsan and flew 230 kilometres (143 miles) into the Sea of Japan — also known as the East Sea — at a maximum altitude of 30 kilometres”.
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“Such military action by North Korea is an extremely inappropriate act when the entire world is having difficulties due to the COVID-19 outbreak,” they added.
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Tokyo’s defence ministry said the “ballistic missile-like objects” did not cross into Japanese waters or the country’s exclusive economic zone.
The latest launch by Pyongyang comes as a prolonged hiatus in disarmament talks with the United States drags on.
On March 21, North Korea fired two projectiles presumed to be short-range ballistic missiles into the sea off its east coast.
Earlier in the month, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has overseen a “long-range artillery” drill on Tuesday after Pyongyang threatened to demonstrate a new weapon.
In 2019, during the 10-day training, North Korea raised tensions with its own missile and other weapons tests. But North Korea’s typical harsh rhetoric over the drills largely focused on South Korea, not the United States, in a suggestion that it’s still interested in resuming nuclear talks with the US.
The DPRK criticised the South Korea-US joint military drills as a rehearsal for a northward invasion, test-firing short-range projectiles into the East Sea before and during the drills to protest against it.
North Korea has one of the few remaining countries in the world yet to report a case of novel coronavirus infection.
But the outbreak has turned into a major international crisis, with more than 640,000 confirmed cases and 30,000 dead worldwide.
North Korea is under multiple sets of United Nations, US and other sanctions over its weapons programmes.
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