Defiant North Korea mounts fresh ballistic missile tests
NORTH KOREA launched a volley of surface-to-ship cruise missiles off its east coast yesterday, according to the defence ministry in Seoul.
It is Pyongyang’s fifth test in less than a month in defiance of global pressure to rein in its weapons programme. The launches come less than a week after the United Nations expanded sanctions against the Kim Jong-un’s regime over ballistic missile tests.
“North Korea fired multiple unidentified projectiles, assumed to be surface-to-ship cruise missiles,” the defence ministry said, adding the short-range missiles flew for 124 miles before falling into the Sea of Japan.
Yesterday’s missile tests are the fifth since the South’s newly elected President Moon Jae-in took power in early May. Moon advocated reconciliation with Seoul’s isolated, unpredictable neighbour, but has taken a more stern position since the tests, saying such “provocation” only brings “isolation and economic hardship” for the North.