Seoul back on alert after North Korea fires missiles from multiple-rocket launchers
- The military fired four shots around 7.20am local time on Sunday for about an hour, towards its west coast from a location in South Pyongan Province
- Concerns are mounting that N Korea will fire off its first intercontinental ballistic missile in five years; it also appears to be preparing a spy satellite
North Korea appeared to have fired a short-range multiple rocket launcher early on Sunday, South Korea’s military said, amid heightened military tensions on the peninsula after a spate of larger missile launches by the nuclear-armed North.
While they garner much less attention than the massive intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), North Korea has displayed several new types of multiple launch rocket systems in recent years, adding to an already large arsenal of artillery and rockets ideal for potentially striking targets in the South.
North Korea’s military fired four shots around 7.20am local time for about an hour toward its west coast from an unidentified location in South Pyongan Province, Yonhap news agency reported.
“This morning there was firing in North Korea which is assumed to be multiple rocket launcher shots, and our military was monitoring the related situation and maintaining a readiness posture,” South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement, and the National Security Council held an emergency vice-ministerial meeting over the launches.
South Korea, US envoys to meet after North’s latest missile test
“The NSC participants will closely analyse the details of the projectile in close cooperation with the US and maintain alert over the recent series of North Korea’s missile launches,” presidential spokeswoman Park Kyung-mi said in a statement. “We should also work to prevent a security vacuum during the presidential transition period,” she said.
Concerns have been mounting that North Korea was looking to fire off its first intercontinental ballistic missile in five years after Yonhap News reported this month South Korea and the US have detected signs of an imminent ICBM launch.
02:02
North Korea launches most powerful ballistic missile test since 2017, takes pictures from space
On Wednesday, North Korea fired a suspected ballistic missile from an area near Pyongyang’s international airport. South Korea’s military believes the test ended in failure with the missile exploding before reaching an altitude of 20 kilometres (12 miles), Yonhap said.
Last year South Korea approved plans to pursue a US$2.6-billion artillery interception system, similar to Israel’s “Iron Dome”, designed to protect against North Korea’s arsenal of long-range guns and rockets.
US troops in South Korea step up defence drills amid North Korea test signs
The latest launch comes as the US prepared new penalties against North Korea after determining that a pair of purported satellite launches by Kim Jong-un’s regime in the past few weeks were used to test systems for a long-anticipated new ICBM.
South Korea and the United States warn that the North could resume test-firing its largest ICBMs for the first time since 2017 amid stalled denuclearisation talks. North Korea also appears to be preparing to launch a spy satellite, and new construction has been spotted at its closed nuclear test site.
About half of South Korea’s 52 million people live in the capital Seoul and the surrounding areas, within range of the neighbour’s long-range guns and multiple rocket launchers.
Reporting by Reuters, Bloomberg, dpa
