By Kyu-seok Shim
SEOUL, April 8 (Reuters) – North Korea fired multiple ballistic missiles on Wednesday, adding to a launch a day earlier, South Korea’s military said, extending a series of tests that have strained hopes in Seoul for easing tensions.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said North Korea fired an additional unidentified missile at around 2:20 p.m. (0520 GMT) on Wednesday from the Wonsan area towards waters off its east coast.
Earlier on Wednesday, North Korea launched several unidentified short-range ballistic missiles also from near the same area, the JCS said.
The missiles flew about 240 km (150 miles), it said, adding that South Korean and U.S. authorities were conducting a detailed analysis. South Korea’s military also said it had detected the launch of a suspected ballistic missile from near Pyongyang on Tuesday.
South Korea’s presidential Blue House convened an emergency National Security Council meeting on Wednesday, calling the earlier launches a provocation that violated U.N. Security Council resolutions, according to media reports. It urged Pyongyang to end such tests.
The Japan Coast Guard said the latest missile fell into the sea about 10 minutes after launch. Tokyo said no missiles entered its territorial waters or exclusive economic zone.
Pyongyang’s actions “threaten peace and security in the region and the international community,” Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said.
According to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency, citing military officials, the projectile launched on Tuesday was probably a ballistic missile that flew eastwards before showing signs of an abnormality in the early stage of flight and disappearing.
‘SOLID-FUEL SYSTEMS’
The incidents mark North Korea’s fourth, fifth and sixth ballistic missile launches this year, following two launches in January and a third in March.
South Korea typically announces North Korean ballistic missile launches promptly, as such tests violate U.N. Security Council resolutions against the North’s missile programme.
Pyongyang rejects the U.N. ban and says it infringes its sovereign right to self-defence.
The launches could reflect routine weapons development and may be linked “to ongoing engine and propulsion testing, including work on solid-fuel systems,” said Kim Dong-yup, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.
Pyongyang has been seeking to upgrade its strike capability with solid-fuel missiles that are often easier and safer to operate and require less logistical support than liquid-fuelled weapons.
HOSTILE ENEMY
Some analysts noted the latest launches followed a combative statement by North Korea indicating Pyongyang saw no shift in its hostile stance towards Seoul despite hopes of a thaw in relations.
Jang Kum Chol, a senior official at North Korea’s foreign ministry, said the South was engaging in wishful thinking if it thought Pyongyang was ready to see Seoul as anything other than an enemy.
“The identity of the ROK, the enemy state most hostile to the DPRK, can never change with any words or conduct,” Jang was quoted as saying by state media KCNA late on Tuesday, using the acronyms for the formal names of South and North Korea.
The remarks contrasted with a North Korean statement on Monday, which said South Korean President Lee Jae Myung was “very fortunate and wise” to convey regret to Pyongyang for drone incursions earlier this year.
Some in Seoul viewed the statement as a rare act of conciliation from the nuclear-armed North after decades of hostility. The two nations remain technically at war after their 1950 to 1953 conflict ended in a truce.
But Jang said the statement issued by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s powerful sister, Kim Yo Jong, amounted to a warning to Seoul, and dismissed interpretations that it reflected friendly intentions.
Yang Moo-jin, another professor at the University of North Korean Studies, said Pyongyang appeared intent on shutting down what it saw as overly optimistic readings in the South.
“North Korea briefly acknowledged Seoul’s tension-easing efforts, but moved within a day to block hopeful interpretations and reassert its hostile-state framework,” Yang said.
(Reporting by Kyu-seok Shim and Jack Kim; Additional reporting by Kantaro Komiya in Tokyo; Editing by Ed Davies, Stephen Coates, Raju Gopalakrishnan and Kate Mayberry)
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