North Korea Tests Four Missiles as Regional Tensions Rise

North Korea test-launched a new intermediate-range missile in February and conducted two nuclear tests past year. Thanks to Pyongyang’s launch Monday, “all this is going to speed up, not slow down”, he said.

The missiles, launched early yesterday from the country’s northwest, flew about 1,000km into the East Sea, also known as the Sea of Japan, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) spokesman Roh Jae-cheon told reporters in Seoul.

Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully has condemned the firing of missiles by North Korea.

Toner said the U.S. calls on all countries to use every available channel and means of influence to make clear to the North and its enablers that further provocations are unacceptable, and take steps to show there are consequences to its unlawful conduct.

While North Korea routinely test-fires missiles – including more than two dozen previous year – the timing of these launches is particularly sensitive.

Mr Davis confirmed that none of the missiles were intercontinental ballistic missiles. “The same sort of things will be repeated in the future”, said an expert in South Korea.

Japan said three of the missiles had landed within its exclusive economic zone in waters off northern Akita prefecture.

Previous year the country conducted two nuclear tests and numerous missile launches in its quest to develop a nuclear weapons system capable of hitting the continental US.

US national security adviser H.R. McMaster and senior South Korean presidential official Kim Kwan-jin held a phone conversation after the missile firings.

He said the United States is taking steps to increase its ability to defend against the missile launches, including plans for the deployment of the THAAD anti-ballistic missile defense in South Korea.

The halt infuriated Pyongyang and its state media carried unusual criticism of Beijing for “dancing to the tune of the U.S.”.

“They seem to be wanting to pressure the US, to obtain bargaining power and to get Washington to admit their position as a nuclear power”, said Kim Tae-woo, a professor in military studies at South Korea’s Konyang University.

The US military said it had detected and tracked what it assessed was a North Korean missile launch, but it did not pose a threat to North America.

It would be too late if we wait for L-SAM, an interception system for intermediate-range missiles, due in the mid 2020s.

“New types of strategic weapons will soar” if the annual drills continue, the official Rodong Sinmun newspaper said in a commentary on Friday.

South Korea is planning to offer North Korea defectors a massive financial reward if they can provide information about the government in Pyongyang, North Korea.

United States and South Korean officials say the THAAD anti-missile system is aimed at North Korean missiles.

Japan has said it also plans to reinforce its missile defences and may buy either THAAD or a ground-based version of the Aegis system deployed on USA warships.

Tongchang-ri is near the North’s border with China, where the isolated state fired a long-range rocket a year ago that put an object into orbit.

On Monday, Moscow also expressed concern over the North Korean launch.

The United States and Japan have requested a United Nations Security Council meeting on North Korea’s missile launches, which will likely be scheduled for Wednesday, diplomats said. National Security Council chief Kim Kwan-jin also spoke with his USA counterpart H.R. McMaster on the phone to beef up cooperation in pressuring the North. Song Ji-sun, Arirang News.

“The launches are clearly in violation of [United Nations] Security Council resolutions”.

For now, the North appears intent on avoiding a full-on confrontation with the U.S. The Foal Eagle exercises run for two months, and top-class American equipment – such as nuclear aircraft carriers and cutting-edge stealth bombers used in offensive strikes – has yet to be brought into the mix.