THE nation fired ballistic missiles into the sea, accelerating its missile launches amid Iran conflict tensions and talk of possible meetings with the US and South Korea.
Pyongyang’s intense missile activity – this was the fourth such launch this month and the seventh of the year – is meant to display its self-defence capabilities while gaining international leverage, some experts said.
“The missile launches may be a way of showing that – unlike Iran – we have self-defence capabilities,” said South Korean former security adviser Kim Ki-jung.
“The North also appears to be exerting pressure preemptively and make a show of force before engaging in dialogue with the United States and South Korea,” he said.
The seven-week-old US-Israeli conflict against Iran, which has as one aim – the curbing of Teheran’s nuclear programme, could reinforce Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions, former South Korean officials say.
US President Donald Trump, preparing for a summit in China next month, and South Korean President Lee Jae-myung have repeatedly expressed interest in holding talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
Lee recently conveyed regret to the North for drone incursions from the South, receiving rare praise from Pyongyang.
Yesterday’s missiles were fired from near the city of Sinpo on North Korea’s east coast toward the sea around 6.10am (2110 GMT on Saturday) and flew about 140km, South Korea’s military said in a statement.
Japan’s government posted on social media that the missiles were believed to have fallen near the east coast of the Korean Peninsula, and no incursion into Japan’s exclusive economic zone had been confirmed.
South Korea’s presidential Blue House convened a security meeting, calling the launches a provocation that violated UN Security Council resolutions, according to media reports.
It urged Pyongyang to “stop the provocative acts”. — Reuters
