Seoul says Pyongyang has fired two short-range projectiles

SEOUL — The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea on Thursday fired two short-range projectiles, likely from a “superlarge” multiple rocket launcher on Thursday, Seoul said, as nuclear talks between Pyongyang and Washington remain deadlocked.

The test-firing came as the clock ticks down on the year-end deadline that Pyongyang had given the United Stated to restart stalled denuclearization talks.

The Republic of Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, or JCS, said Pyongyang fired the two missiles into the sea from launchers in the eastern coastal town of Yonpo at about 5 pm.

The rockets traveled up to 380 kilometers and reached an altitude of 97 km, the JCS said.

It was also one day short of the two-year anniversary of the DPRK’s first test of its Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile, which analysts say is capable of reaching the entire US mainland.

Seoul expressed “strong regret”, urging its neighbor to stop stoking military tension.

“Such acts by North Korea (the DPRK) are unhelpful for efforts to ease tension on the Korean Peninsula,” Jeon Dong-jin, director of operations at the JCS, told a news briefing.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said the launch was a threat to not only Japan but the region and beyond, though his defense ministry said the projectile did not enter Japanese airspace or its exclusive economic zone.

“We will remain in close contact with the United States, South Korea (the ROK) and the international community to monitor the situation,” Abe told reporters.

The launch is the first since Oct 31, when the DPRK tested what it called super-large multiple rocket launchers, which had also been used in tests conducted in August and September that were overseen by the country’s top leader Kim Jong-un.

The test also came a week after the ROK pulled back from a decision to scrap an intelligence-sharing pact with Japan, an important element of security cooperation between the key US allies in the region.

Kim has set an end-of-year deadline for denuclearization talks with Washington, but negotiations have been at an impasse after a daylong working level meeting on ended without progress.

DPRK officials have warned the US to abandon its hostile policy or Pyongyang would walk away from the talks.

Earlier this month, Seoul and Washington said they would postpone planned joint military exercises to ease diplomacy with the DPRK, an announcement Pyongyang dismissed.

The DPRK has long condemned the joint drills, which it sees as preparations for an invasion, and carried out multiple missile launches in the summer in protest as the allies carried out their annual exercises.

Pyongyang has issued a series of increasingly assertive comments in recent weeks as its deadline for the US to come up with a fresh offer approaches.

Trump hinted at the prospect of a fourth meeting with Kim in a tweet earlier this month, only to be rebuffed by the DPRK, which said it had no interest in summits “that bring nothing to us”.

Oct 5