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North Korea fires two ‘unidentified projectiles’ on Thanksgiving as end-of-year deadline looms
- US and North Korea have been at an impasse since February and Pyongyang has demanded Washington change its approach by the end of the year
- One analyst claimed: ‘North Korea is growing anxious ... That’s why it’s carrying out these provocations.’
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North Korea fired two “unidentified projectiles” on Thursday – the Thanksgiving holiday in the US – Seoul said, as nuclear talks between Pyongyang and Washington remain deadlocked.
The projectiles were fired eastward from South Hamgyong province and came down in the Sea of Japan, also known as the East Sea, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said.
They added that the launch, the latest in a series by Pyongyang, was carried out at 16.59pm local time – or the early hours on the east coast of the US, during one of the country’s biggest annual holidays.
It was also one day short of the two-year anniversary of the North’s first test of its Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile, which analysts say is capable of reaching the entire US mainland.
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Pyongyang is banned from firing ballistic missiles under UN Security Council resolutions, and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Thursday’s launch was the latest in a series of violations.
“North Korea’s repeated launches of ballistic missiles are a serious defiance to not only our country but also the international community,” he told reporters in Tokyo.
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Thursday’s launch came after Pyongyang fired what it called a “super-large multiple rocket launcher” system last month, and the JCS said the latest devices were presumed to be of a similar type. They flew 380km and reached a maximum altitude of 97km, the JCS added.
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