North Korea’s show of power amid the cloud of sanctions through missile launches seems to be continuing.
On Friday, North Korea seems to have fired at least two missiles. This comes just hours after it criticised a US push for new sanctions.
The country has been conducting missile launches for some time. It had also warned of strong reaction to the sanctions.
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Without elaborating, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that the North had presumably launched two short-range ballistic missiles (SRBMs) eastward from North Pyongan Province on the west coast of the country.
The US and South Korea see the recent missile launches as a “provocation”.
The development was also confirmed by Japan as the coast guard also said that the North had fired what looked like a ballistic missile.
The missiles appeared to have landed in the sea outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone, reported broadcaster NHK, citing a Japanese defence ministry official.
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Defending missile tests to be a legitimate right to self-defence, North Korea said the United States was intentionally escalating the situation with the help of imposition of new sanctions, its state media reported earlier on Friday. It had cited the foreign ministry in the report.
In a statement to the KCNA state news agency, the foreign ministry said that North Korea’s recent development of a “new-type weapon” was just part of its efforts to modernise its national defence capability and did not target any specific country or harm the security of neighbouring countries.
(With inputs from agencies)
