North Korea test-fires three ballistic missiles

About 400 of all North Korean missiles are believed to be short-range Scuds that can travel between 200 and 600 miles.

“This smells political rather than technical to me”, said Melissa Hanham, a senior research associate at the US-based Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, California.

“This is just another in a series of provocations that raises the concerns of the global community and frankly only strengthens our resolve to continue to put pressure on the leadership of North Korea to suspend all activities related to its ballistic missile program”, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said at a regular briefing.

“I think the number and distance of the missiles lets them remind the ROK (Republic of Korea) of what they are up against”, she said, referring to South Korea by its official name.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the missile launches were “deeply troubling”. The last launch was July 9 when a North Korea ballistic missile exploded shortly after being fired from a submarine.

“Our assessment is that it was done as a show of force”, a South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff official said at a briefing. He said the South is closely watching the North’s moves.

Two SCUD missiles flew between 500 and 600 kilometres (310-370 miles) into the Sea of Japan, while a third, believed to be Rodong intermediate range ballistic missile, was sacked about an hour later.

Beijing has spoken out against the plan to put a THAAD system in South Korea, likely because the defense battery could also be used to monitor Chinese military activity and shoot down Chinese missiles if a conflict were to break out in the region.

Busan is a South Korean port city in the south.

The United Nations has officially called on North Korea to release information on the fate of 14 people held captive in the reclusive country, including a South Korean plane crew kidnapped 47 years ago, a US -based media outlet said Tuesday.

We’ve got a strong sanctions regime that we strengthened even further recently after missile tests and nuclear tests.

“The threat to our national security is growing very quickly in a short period of time”, South Korean Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn told parliament on Tuesday.