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SEOUL. — North Korea fired three ballistic missiles into the sea off its east coast yesterday, South Korea’s military said, as the leaders of the Group of 20 major economies held a summit in China, the North’s main diplomatic ally.
The missiles were fired from a region south of the capital Pyongyang just after noon local time (0300 GMT) and flew about 1 000 km, hitting Japan’s air defence identification zone, the South’s Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said.
“We are still analysing details but this is a grave threat to our nation’s security, and we express deep concern,” the Japan Defence Ministry said in a statement.
The missile launches were the latest in a series of launches by the isolated North this year in violation of UN Security Council resolutions, supported by China, that ban all ballistic missile-related activities by the North.
Pyongyang rejects the ban as infringing its sovereign right to pursue a space program and self defence.
Shortly after the missile launches, South Korean President Park Geun-hye and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met on the sidelines of the G20 summit and agreed to cooperate on monitoring the situation, a Japanese statement said.
The South’s military said the missiles were medium-range Rodong-class, launched as a show of force timed to coincide with the G20 summit.
In 2014, the North fired two Rodong medium-range missiles just as Park and Abe were meeting US President Barack Obama at the Hague to discuss responding to the North’s arms programme.
The latest missiles were launched from a region called Hwangju and came just hours after the leaders of South Korea and China met on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Hangzhou, China. — Reuters.
Online Reporter