Seoul reports Kim fired 2 projectiles

SEOUL — North Korea on Thursday fired two shortrange projectiles, probably from a “super-large” multiple rocket launcher, South Korea’s military said, adding to tensions three days after the North said its troops conducted artillery drills near its disputed sea boundary with South Korea.

North Korea’s recent activities may be an indication that it wants to show what would happen if Washington fails to meet a year-end deadline set by its leader, Kim Jong Un, for the U.S. to offer a new proposal in their stalemated nuclear talks.

Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement that the projectiles were launched toward the North’s eastern waters from the northeastern province of South Hamgyong.

Maj. Gen. Jeon Dong-jin, a senior operations officer with the joint chiefs, said the projectiles flew about 235 miles at a maximum altitude of 60 miles. He said South Korean and U.S. intelligence authorities were continuing to analyze the details.

“Our military expresses its strong regret over [the launches] and urges [North Korea] to immediately stop acts that escalate military tensions,” Jeon said in a televised briefing. He said the military is monitoring possible additional launches by North Korea.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe condemned the launches as a “serious challenge” to both Japan and the international community, even though the projectiles did not land in Japanese territorial waters.

He said his government would “do its utmost” to protect the lives and assets of Japanese people.

The reported launches were the 13th major public weapons test by North Korea this year and the first since it conducted what it called a test-firing of a new “super-large” multiple rocket launcher late last month. That launcher is apparently the same system that South Korea’s military said was probably used in Thursday’s launches.

On Monday, North Korea said leader Kim visited a front-line islet and ordered artillery troops there to practice firing near the sea boundary, the scene of several previous bloody naval clashes between the Koreas. South Korea protested the drills, saying they violated an agreement last year aimed at reducing military animosity.

With nuclear diplomacy largely deadlocked, North Korea has test-fired a series of newly developed weapons to pressure the U.S. while using the standstill in negotiations to upgrade its military capabilities. In early October, it conducted its first underwater launch of a ballistic missile in three years.

Attention is now focused on whether North Korea will resume long-range missile and nuclear tests, which have been suspended since it conducted the third of three intercontinental ballistic missile tests in November 2017. President Trump has called the suspension of those tests a major achievement of his North Korea policy.

Some experts say North Korea may restart those major weapons tests if the United States fails to meet the deadline. But others say North Korea is likely to begin with less serious provocations while attempting to improve cooperation with China and Russia, because ICBM and nuclear tests would completely derail diplomacy with the United States.

In recent weeks, high-level North Korean officials have issued statements via state media saying Pyongyang is not interested in diplomacy with the U.S. unless Washington abandons hostile policies toward the North.

North Korea says it wants the U.S. to lift international sanctions and provide security guarantees before Pyongyang abandons its advancing nuclear arsenal. But U.S. officials have said the sanctions will remain in place until North Korea takes substantial steps toward denuclearization.

The nuclear negotiations broke down in February, when Trump rejected Kim’s demands for major sanctions relief in return for partial disarmament steps, during their second summit, held in Vietnam.

The two leaders held a third, impromptu meeting in late June at the Korean border village of Panmunjom.