North Korea yesterday reportedly conducted test launches of two short-range missiles, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, Sept. 16).
“We understand that North Korea fired about two missiles in the Yellow Sea in the afternoon of the seventh (of October),” a South Korean defense official told the Yonhap News Agency. “It seems that the missiles were fired as part of their routine [military] drill.”
The weapons, believed to have been KN-02 or Styx missiles, were fired from North Korean waters and landed in the Yellow Sea, according to the source.
North Korea last conducted missile launches in March, Yonhap reported. This week’s tests came amid the latest deadlock in the years-old diplomatic effort to persuade Pyongyang to give up its nuclear programs (see related GSN story, today; Agence France-Presse/Spacewar.com, Oct. 8).
The United States offered no response specifically addressing the reported missile tests, Reuters reported.
“North Korea's development, deployment and proliferation of missiles and missile-related materials, equipment and technology pose a threat to the region and the world,” said one Defense Department spokesman.
North Korea can strike any location in South Korea and much of Japan with its missiles. Recent reports indicate it has been working to establish a second launch site (Jack Kim, Reuters/Washington Post, Oct. 7).