North Korea Conducts 4th Missile Test in Two Weeks
North Korea is still using the US-ROK joint exercise as an excuse to continue test their short range missile systems:
North Korea conducted its fourth weapons test in two weeks early Tuesday morning with a pair of unidentified projectiles launched into the East Sea, justifying the act as an “essential and powerful physical means” in a statement from its foreign ministry.
The projectiles, which South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said appeared to be short-range ballistic missiles, were fired at 5:24 a.m. and 5:36 a.m. from an area around Kwail County in South Hwanghae Province. They each flew a distance of around 450 kilometers (280 miles) with peak altitudes of 37 kilometers at Mach 6.9, according to a JCS spokesman.
South Korean and U.S. intelligence officials believe the rockets displayed a flight pattern similar to the short-range ballistic missiles launched on July 25, the first in a series of four tests that all involved projectiles launched into the East Sea. The North’s state media followed up each of the previous three tests – on July 25, July 31 and last Friday – with reports saying the country had tested new types of ballistic missiles and rocket artillery, all under the personal direction of its leader, Kim Jong-un. (…..)
“Despite our repeated warnings, the United States and South Korean authorities have finally started the joint military exercise targeting the DPRK,” read the English-language release, using the acronym for North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. “This is an undisguised denial and a flagrant violation of June 12 DPRK-U.S. Joint Statement, Panmunjom Declaration and September Pyongyang Joint Declaration, all of which are agreements to establish new DPRK-U.S. relations and build a lasting and stable peace regime on the Korean Peninsula.”
Saying the North had no reason to keep its promises while the United States and South Korea ignored theirs, the statement stressed the regime was “compelled to develop, test and deploy the powerful physical means essential for national defense.”North Korea conducted its fourth weapons test in two weeks early Tuesday morning with a pair of unidentified projectiles launched into the East Sea, justifying the act as an “essential and powerful physical means” in a statement from its foreign ministry.
The projectiles, which South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said appeared to be short-range ballistic missiles, were fired at 5:24 a.m. and 5:36 a.m. from an area around Kwail County in South Hwanghae Province. They each flew a distance of around 450 kilometers (280 miles) with peak altitudes of 37 kilometers at Mach 6.9, according to a JCS spokesman.
South Korean and U.S. intelligence officials believe the rockets displayed a flight pattern similar to the short-range ballistic missiles launched on July 25, the first in a series of four tests that all involved projectiles launched into the East Sea. The North’s state media followed up each of the previous three tests – on July 25, July 31 and last Friday – with reports saying the country had tested new types of ballistic missiles and rocket artillery, all under the personal direction of its leader, Kim Jong-un. (…..)
Joong Ang Ilbo
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