N. Korea fires salvo of short-range ballistic missiles

SEOUL: North Korea has fired several short-range ballistic missiles, Seoul’s military said on Monday, the latest in a volley of tests by Pyongyang this year.

The launch comes after UN sanctions monitoring against the nuclear-armed nation was upended last month by Pyongyang’s ally Russia.

South Korea’s military said it had detected the launch of ‘several short-range ballistic missiles’ from the Pyongyang area, which flew around 300 kilometres before splashing down into waters east of the Korean peninsula.

“This missile launch is a blatant provocation that threatens peace and stability of the Korean peninsula,” South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said, adding that the military was maintaining “full readiness”.

Tokyo also confirmed the launch, with Japanese government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi saying one missile had a maximum altitude of 50 kilometres and landed outside of the country’s EEZ.

The launch is the second in less than a week by Pyongyang, which on Friday tested a ‘superlarge warhead’ designed for a strategic cruise missile, state media said. Seoul’s military confirmed it had detected cruise missile launches at the time.

Pyongyang’s ally Moscow in March used its United Nations Security Council veto to effectively end UN monitoring of violations of the raft of sanctions on Kim Jong Un’s government for its nuclear and weapons programme.

Analysts have warned that North Korea could be testing cruise missiles ahead of sending them to Russia for use in Ukraine, with Washington and Seoul claiming Kim has shipped weapons to Moscow, despite UN sanctions banning any such moves.

Seoul claims Pyongyang has sent around 7,000 containers of weapons to Moscow for use in Ukraine.

Pyongyang’s recent track record on launches indicates the North is trying to push its technical abilities, said Hong Min, a senior analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification.

“Today’s launch also appears to be a part of its weapons development programme that needs testing rather than ones that are fully developed,” he told AFP.

Unlike their ballistic counterparts, the testing of cruise missiles is not banned under current UN sanctions on North Korea.