North Korea fires two ballistic missiles amid 'firing range' warning
North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles Monday, Seoul said, Pyongyang’s second launch in 48 hours as Kim Jong Un’s powerful sister warned of turning the Pacific into a “firing range".
FollowNorth Korea fired two more ballistic missiles off its east coast on Monday, as the powerful sister of leader Kim Jong Un warned U.S. forces to halt military drills, saying the reclusive nuclear state could turn the Pacific into a "firing range".
The launches occur just two days after North Korea fired an ICBM into the ocean off the west coast of Japan, causing the United States to conduct separate air drills with Japan and South Korea on Sunday.
State-run media in North Korea verified the country launched two missiles from multiple rocket launchers with respective targets located 395 km (245 miles) and 337 km (209 miles) away.
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"The 600mm multiple rocket launcher mobilised in the firing... is a means of tactical nuclear weapon," capable of "paralysing" an enemy airfield, state news agency KCNA said.
According to the Japanese Defense Ministry, the two ballistic missiles were launched at around 2200 GMT, hit maximal altitudes of about 100 and 50 km, and travelled 350 to 400 km before crashing outside of Japan's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). There were no reports of damage to aircraft or vessels.
The ministry declared in a statement that it would keep gathering and analysing data in close coordination with the US.
After the United States conducted joint air exercises with its Asian partners over the weekend, Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim, issued a warning against a greater presence of American strategic assets on the Korean peninsula.
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"We are carefully examining the influence it would exert on the security of our state," she said in a statement. "The frequency of using the Pacific as our firing range depends upon the U.S. forces' action character," she added.
