North Korea fires ballistic missiles innewarmstest

NORTH KOREA has fired two suspected ballistic missiles into the sea in its sixth round of weapons launches this month, South Korea’s military said.

Experts say North Korea’s unusually fast pace in testing activity is intended to put pressure on Washington over long-stalled negotiations aimed at exchanging a release of crippling US-led sanctions against Pyongyang and the North’s denuclearisation steps.

The renewed pressure comes as the pandemic further shakes the North’s economy, which had already been battered by sanctions over its nuclear weapons programme and decades of mismanagement by its own government. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the weapons, which were likely to be short-range, were launched five minutes apart from the eastern coastal town of Hamhung and flew 190 kilometres (118 miles) on an apogee of 20 kilometres (12.4 miles) before landing at sea.

Aviation authorities issued a Notice to Airmen, or NOTAM, for pilots operating in South Korean air space, advising them of a “missile launched from North Korea” and to maintain close communication with air traffic controls, according to the website of South Korea’s Office of Civil Aviation.

The US Indo Pacific Command said the latest launches highlighted the destabilising impact of North Korea’s weapons programme, but did not pose an “immediate threat to US personnel or territory, or to our allies”.

Japan said the missiles did not reach its exclusive economic zone and there were no reports of damage to vessels or aircraft around its coast. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, inset, said the North’s repeated missile firings were “extremely regrettable” and violated UN Security Council resolutions.

Senior South Korean security and military officials gathered for an emergency National Security Council meeting where they expressed strong regret over the North’s continuing launches and urged Pyongyang to recommit to dialogue, Seoul’s presidential office said.

The North last week issued a veiled threat to resume the testing of nuclear explosives and long-range missiles targeting the American homeland, which leader Kim Jong Un suspended in 2018 while initiating diplomacy with the US. Mr Kim’s summits with then-president Donald Trump derailed in 2019 after the Americans rejected North Korea’s demands for major sanctions relief.