South Korean officials say North Korea fired
the missiles throughout the day Saturday, launching them in the morning, early
afternoon, and early evening.
The missiles were apparently launched from
a facility on North Korea's east coast, and are believed to have flown
approximately 400 kilometers each.
The Foreign Ministry in Seoul issued a
statement calling the launches a "provocative act" and expressing "deep regret
over North Korea's continued acts to escalate tensions in Northeast
Asia."
South Korean officials say the launches violate the latest United
Nations Security Council Resolution 1874, passed after Pyongyang's nuclear
weapons test in May. That measure prohibits the North from launching any
ballistic missiles whatsoever.
The test launches coincided with the
United States' Independence Day holiday, drawing comparisons to North Korea's
test of a long-range missile on the July 4 holiday three years ago. The North's
May nuclear test fell on the U.S. Memorial Day holiday.
On Thursday,
North Korea fired several short range missiles as talks between North and South
Korea concluded without progress. South Korean Defense Department spokesman Won
Tae-jae says such launches are aimed at getting the South's attention.
He
says when North Korea launches missiles with less than a medium range
trajectory, they are mostly against South Korea. He adds, South Korea is
constantly monitoring signs of such launches.
North Korea is known to
possess hundreds of similar short and medium range missiles capable of striking
all of South Korea and most of Japan. Military analysts say a North Korean
missile barrage could easily kill hundreds of thousands of people here in the
capital, Seoul, within a matter of hours.
A maritime advisory issued by
North Korea for boats to steer clear of its eastern waters remains in effect
until this Thursday. For that reason, nobody is ruling out the test launch of
more missiles in the days to come.
གཟའ་ཟླ་བ། ༢༠༢༤/༠༩/༠༩