North Korea launches missiles, condemns US-South Korea drills

Women walk past a TV showing a file picture for a news report on North Korea firing two unidentified projectiles, in Seoul, South Korea REUTERS 

SEOUL (Reuters): North Korea fired missiles into the sea off its east coast for the fourth time in less than two weeks, the South Korean military said on Tuesday, as Pyongyang protested that joint US-South Korea military drills violated diplomatic agreements.

The North, criticising the US-South Korean drills and their use of high-tech weapons, has fired a series of missiles and rockets since its leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump agreed at a June 30 meeting to revive stalled denuclearisation talks.

Trump has played down the tests by saying they did not break any agreement he had with Kim but the talks have yet to resume. Analysts believe the tests are designed both to improve North Korean military capabilities and to pressure Washington to offer more concessions.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said what appeared to be two short-range ballistic missiles were fired from near Kwail on North Korea’s west coast, about 125 km (80 miles) southwest of Pyongyang, in South Hwanghae province early on Tuesday. They were the fourth set of launches since July 25.

The missiles flew about 450 km (280 miles) and reached an altitude of 37 km (23 miles), the JCS said. US and South Korean intelligence agencies deemed they had similar flight characteristics to the short-range ballistic missiles launched by North Korea on July 25, it said.

South Korea’s defence ministry said on Tuesday the missile launch went against the spirit of easing tension on the Korean peninsula. The launches on July 25 were the first since Trump and Kim met at the heavily armed Demilitarised Zone that separates the two Koreas on June 30. What was agreed at that meeting is now under scrutiny.

North Korea has repeatedly complained that the United States and South Korea’s joint military drills violate a pledge made by Trump to Kim.

A North Korean foreign ministry spokesman said in a statement released through state news agency KCNA that the North remained committed to resolving issues through dialogue.

However, Pyongyang “will be compelled to seek a new road as we have already indicated” if South Korea and the United States continue with hostile military moves, he said.