N. Korea launched two short-range unidentified projectiles early Tuesday: S. Korea's JCS
- 5 years ago
North Korea has fired yet more missiles into the East Sea.
Our Kim Ji-yeon is at Seoul's defense ministry to fill us in with details.
Ji-yeon,
South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said North Korea launched the two short-range missiles in the early hours of
Tuesday... towards the East Sea... at around 5:24 AM and 5:36 AM, Korea time, from its southwestern county of Kwail in
Hwanghaenam-do Province.
The missiles had an altitude of around 37 kilometers... and flew some 450 kilometers... recording a maximum flight speed of Mach 6-point-9... that's around eight-thousand-five hundred kilometers an hour.
The North had fired two medium-range ballistic Nodong missiles from the same province in 2016.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missiles seemed to have similar characteristics to the short-range ballistic missiles fired by the North on July 25th... and said it's working with the U.S. to verify further information about the missiles... while monitoring the situation for additional launches.
Up until now the launches for the past two weeks were conducted in the North's east coast... but this time you can notice that this time it was fired from the southwestern region.
We're waiting for the Joint Chiefs of Staff to give their thoughts on the significance of the recent firing from this location... and whether this rare incident of consecutive firings of short-range missiles is going to continue in the future.
According to the Joint Chiefs of Staff... the launches conducted for the past two weeks were mostly short-range and ballistic... and were fired in the early hours... in a northeasterly direction towards the East Sea... all flying at altitudes of less than 50 kilometers.
The Joint Chiefs believe the North test-fired a new type of short-range ballistic missile, North Korea's version of Russia's Iskander-class missile... which is believed to be harder to intercept due to its complicated flight trajectory... although the Joint Chiefs of Staff made reassurances that they're able to neutralize the missiles by North with the existing Patriot anti-missile system.
We have to talk about the timing of today's launches... they came a day after South Korea and the U.S. began their combined military exercise as scheduled... despite North Korea's warnings against it, right?
Yes the "crisis management staff training" kicked off on Monday as a preliminary session in the run-up to their summertime command post exercise... which is expected to start this Sunday and continue for about three weeks.
The drill is aimed at testing South Korea's initial operational capability for the envisioned transfer of the wartime operational control from Washington to Seoul.
Issuing a statement right after the firing Tuesday, North Korea's foreign ministry criticized the South for conducting exercises which it says are simulations of "pre-emptive" strikes against Pyeongyang.
It also criticized the U.S. for supplying new weapons including the F-35A fighter jets to the South.
The Nor
Our Kim Ji-yeon is at Seoul's defense ministry to fill us in with details.
Ji-yeon,
South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said North Korea launched the two short-range missiles in the early hours of
Tuesday... towards the East Sea... at around 5:24 AM and 5:36 AM, Korea time, from its southwestern county of Kwail in
Hwanghaenam-do Province.
The missiles had an altitude of around 37 kilometers... and flew some 450 kilometers... recording a maximum flight speed of Mach 6-point-9... that's around eight-thousand-five hundred kilometers an hour.
The North had fired two medium-range ballistic Nodong missiles from the same province in 2016.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missiles seemed to have similar characteristics to the short-range ballistic missiles fired by the North on July 25th... and said it's working with the U.S. to verify further information about the missiles... while monitoring the situation for additional launches.
Up until now the launches for the past two weeks were conducted in the North's east coast... but this time you can notice that this time it was fired from the southwestern region.
We're waiting for the Joint Chiefs of Staff to give their thoughts on the significance of the recent firing from this location... and whether this rare incident of consecutive firings of short-range missiles is going to continue in the future.
According to the Joint Chiefs of Staff... the launches conducted for the past two weeks were mostly short-range and ballistic... and were fired in the early hours... in a northeasterly direction towards the East Sea... all flying at altitudes of less than 50 kilometers.
The Joint Chiefs believe the North test-fired a new type of short-range ballistic missile, North Korea's version of Russia's Iskander-class missile... which is believed to be harder to intercept due to its complicated flight trajectory... although the Joint Chiefs of Staff made reassurances that they're able to neutralize the missiles by North with the existing Patriot anti-missile system.
We have to talk about the timing of today's launches... they came a day after South Korea and the U.S. began their combined military exercise as scheduled... despite North Korea's warnings against it, right?
Yes the "crisis management staff training" kicked off on Monday as a preliminary session in the run-up to their summertime command post exercise... which is expected to start this Sunday and continue for about three weeks.
The drill is aimed at testing South Korea's initial operational capability for the envisioned transfer of the wartime operational control from Washington to Seoul.
Issuing a statement right after the firing Tuesday, North Korea's foreign ministry criticized the South for conducting exercises which it says are simulations of "pre-emptive" strikes against Pyeongyang.
It also criticized the U.S. for supplying new weapons including the F-35A fighter jets to the South.
The Nor