North test-fires ballistic missiles

North Korea on Saturday test-fired two short-range ballistic missiles, its neighbors said, the fourth round in a week of weapons launches that prompted condemnation from its rivals.

In an unusually strong rebuke of North Korea’s weapons programs, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said North Korea’s “obsession” with nuclear weapons is deepening the suffering of its own people, and warned of an “overwhelming response” from South Korean and U.S. militaries should such weapons be used.

The North’s testing spree is seen as a response to naval drills last week between South Korea, the United States and Japan. North Korea views such military exercises by the allies

as an invasion rehearsal and argues they reveal U.S. and South Korean “double standards” because they brand the North’s weapons tests as provocation.

According to South Korean and Japanese estimates, the missiles flew about 220-250 miles before they landed in the waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan.