N. Korea launches two short-range unidentified projectiles

North Korea fired yet more projectiles into the East Sea on Friday morning.
Two were fired around seven hours ago.
They are the second launch in two days and third in just over a week.
Our Kim Ji-yeon is at Seoul's defense ministry.
Ji-yeon, more details about these latest launches are starting to filter in....


South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff says North Korea launched the two short-range unidentified projectiles in the early hours of
Friday... towards the East Sea... at around 2:59 AM and 3:23 AM, Korea time, from its Hamgyongnam-do Province.
It says it's monitoring the situation while maintaining a defense posture in case of additional launches.
As far as details on this launch, that's about all they are telling us right now.
Nothing from North Korea so far, but it normally take them a day or two to provide their information.
But this follows the two short-range ballistic missiles fired by the North a couple of days ago.

The missiles fired last Thursday and on Wednesday were both short-range and ballistic... and were fired in the early hours... in a northeasterly direction towards the East Sea... all flying at altitudes of less than 50 kilometers.
The missiles were presumed to have been launched from the ground using a transporter erector launcher,... which is used to move missiles to a desired launch location.
That means the missiles are not bound to a fixed launch site and the North's movements are therefore harder to predict.
North Korea has already released a report and photos of its military activity of Wednesday.
The regime stated it tested a new multiple rocket launcher... (quote)"newly developed, large-caliber multiple-launch guided rocket system"... countering the assessment by the Joint Chiefs of Staff that they're short-range ballistic missiles... that had characteristics similar to Russia's Iskander-class ballistic missiles.
Military experts invited by officials from Seoul's defense ministry on Thursday said further analysis is needed to verify the North's claim that it has succeeded in test-firing a "guided" rocket system... implying its multiple rocket launchers are now equipped with weapons that can track and destroy targets accurately.
The experts corroborated the Joint Chiefs of Staff's statement that the South Korean military is capable of intercepting all missiles launched by North Korea so far this year... with the existing Patriot anti-missile system... based upon simulations.
The military experts said the South Korean military already acquired the missile technology touted by the North during the early 2000s.
Although North Korea could have acquired the technology, the experts said it's still in the test-firing stage... and the technology is not fully operational... due to factors that include lack of infrastructure and resources.
Back to you.