SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea on Thursday fired at least one unidentified projectile from the country’s western area, South Korea’s military said, the North’s…
SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea on Thursday fired at least one unidentified projectile from the country’s western area, South Korea’s military said, the North’s second weapons launch in the last five days and a possible warning that nuclear disarmament talks with Washington could be in danger.
The South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff didn’t immediately release details about what type of projectile the North fired and said it was still analyzing the launch.
The projectile was launched from the Sino-ri area of North Pyongan Province, an area known to host one of North Korea’s oldest missile bases where a brigade operates mid-range Rodong missiles.
The launch comes as U. S. Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun visits South Korea, and hours after the North described its firing of rocket artillery and an apparent short-range ballistic missile on Saturday as a regular and defensive military exercise.
The North also ridiculed South Korea for criticizing those launches.
South Korea’s presidential national security director, Chung Eui-yong, has been monitoring the situation while communicating with the Defense Ministry and the Joint Chiefs of Staff by video, according to the presidential Blue House.
There was no immediate comment from the United States.
Some analysts have said that if the North returns to testing the kind of longer-range banned ballistic weapons that it fired in unusually large numbers in 2017 — when many feared a Washington-Pyongyang standoff could end in war — it may signal that a frustrated North Korea is turning away from diplomacy.
