North Korea fuels the fire with more missiles
NORTH Korea launched four anti-ship missiles off its east coast yesterday, in the latest provocation by the rogue nation.
With military tension on the Korean peninsula almost at boiling point, South Korean officials said the missiles flew about 200km, to a maximum height of about 2km, and landed in waters between South Korea and Japan where joint exercises between the US Navy and South Korean Navy ended earlier this week.
The Japanese Government also confirmed multiple missiles were fired.
Last Friday, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted a US-drafted resolution
imposing new targeted sanctions on a handful of North Korean officials and entities, in response to a series of ballistic missile tests this year.
Two days later, North Korea slammed the latest UN sanctions as “mean” and vowed to press ahead with its missile and nuclear weapons programs.
It is the fourth missile test by the nuclear-armed regime in less than five weeks, as Pyongyang continues to defy UN warnings and US threats of possible military action.
On Wednesday, South Korean President Moon Jae-In announced the suspension of any further deployment of the controversial US missile defence system until an environmental impact assessment was finished.
Seoul agreed under Mr Moon’s ousted predecessor last year to deploy the missile intercept system to guard against threats from North Korea, despite opposition from Beijing.