SEOUL (HRNW) – North Korea fired three ballistic missiles towards the sea off its east coast on Thursday, South Korea and Japan said, in the latest such move as the isolated country races to advance its weapons programmes on the day it first reported a COVID-19 outbreak.
Three short-range ballistic missiles were fired at around 18:30 (0930 GMT) from the Sunan area of the North s capital, Pyongyang, where an international airport is located and where the North had said it fired its largest intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), the Hwasong-17, on March 24, South Korea s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said.
The missiles flew approximately 360 kilometres (224 miles), reaching an altitude of 90 km and a maximum velocity of Mach 5, the JCS said. The U.S. military said the launch did not pose an immediate threat to it or its allies.
Japanese Defence Minister Nobuo Kishi said the missiles flew about 350 km, to the maximum altitude of around 100 km, before landing outside Japan s territorial waters.
“A series of missile launches when the invasion of Ukraine is taking place is unacceptable,” he told reporters, adding that Tokyo had lodged a protest against North Korea through its embassy in Beijing.
The North s 16th known weapons test this year came hours after it reported its first COVID-19 outbreak, declaring a “gravest national emergency” and ordering a national lockdown. Read full story
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