N. Korea fires two short-range ballistic missiles towards East Sea on Wednesday
  • 5 years ago
North Korea has fired two short-range ballistic missiles off its east coast earlier today,... the second such launch in a week.
And the South Korean military has shared more of their findings about today's launch.
For more, we connect to our Kim Ji-yeon at Seoul's defense ministry.
Ji-yeon, what's the latest on this.

An official from South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles Wednesday morning, local time, from the eastern city of Wonsan at around 5:06 and 5:27 AM. That's around 10 kilometers away from where the military had initially said they were launched, the Hodo peninsula.
Both of them are presumed to have flown in a northeasterly direction... some 250 kilometers, reaching an altitude of around 30 kilometers.
The official also said the missiles are presumed to have been launched using a transporter erector launcher,... which is used to move missiles to a desired launch location.
That means the misiles are not bound to a fixed launch site and the North's movements are therefore harder to predict.
The military is still verifying where the missiles landed.
You have to keep in mind the preliminary data are subject to change upon further investigation by the military.
The military said it's monitoring North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's movements... but didn't state where he was at the time of launch... unlike last week when the military said he "could have" been at the Wonsan area.
It says it's currently working with the U.S. to analyze the missiles further... including their trajectory... and that it's monitoring the situation while maintaining a defense posture in case of additional launches.
Without elaborating further, the official said the preliminary findings... show today's launches might be similar to last week's... but as of the briefing at 10:30 this morning... it had not received nor shared related information with Japan.
South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said North Korea's firing yet another round of missiles.... just six days after the last one.... does not help alleviate tensions on the Korean peninsula... and it urged the North to halt such actions.
To fill you in about last Thurday's firings...
The military confirmed last week that the two missiles both flew some 600 kilometers and were both similiar to Russia's Iskander-class ballistic missile system... which is known to be able to move away from its original trajectory to change its target or avoid being shot down.
But the military also said it's capable of intercepting them with the existing Patriot anti-missile system.

While we wait to find out more about today's launch, can you tell us more about the Iskander-class ballistic missile system and why many of us here in South Korea are concerned about it?

Sure.
A ballistic missile, which flies in an arc...
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