The South Korean military’s joint chiefs of staff have claimed that their neighbor to the north fired unidentified projectiles less than a week after its latest high-profile weapons test.
The unidentified projectiles were reportedly fired at approximately 16:30 local time from the Sino-ri missile base some 210 kilometers north of the border with South Korea. They were probably short-range missiles, according to the joint chiefs’ statement.
Last week, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un oversaw the test-firing of rockets and at least one short-range missile from the country’s east coast into the Sea of Japan.
North Korea denies its recent missile tests were acts of provocation, insisting the drills were “regular and self-defensive.”
The timing of the latest incident coincides with a four-day visit by US envoy for North Korea Stephen Biegun to the South Korean capital, Seoul to discuss the possibility of increasing food aid to the north with his counterpart Lee Do-oon.
The test firings have ramped up in recent weeks after denuclearization talks between Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump stalled after the US said it was not prepared to lift its North Korean sanctions in their entirety, as Pyongyang requested. The North Korean delegation blamed the US for the abrupt end to the summit.