SEOUL: North Korea launched two projectiles that are seen to be short-range ballistic missiles toward the Sea of Japan on Thursday, according to the South Korean military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The projectiles were fired northeastward from an area around the eastern city of Hamhung at around 8 a.m. (11 p.m. Wednesday GMT). They traveled about 190 kilometers and reached an altitude of about 20 kilometers.

Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi told reporters in Tokyo that the government has not confirmed any projectile flying into Japan’s territory or its exclusive economic zone.

North Korea has been test-firing ballistic and cruise missiles repeatedly since the turn of the year. The latest set of launches is the sixth this year.

Speaking to reporters at the prime minister’s office in Tokyo, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said that the government has not received any report of damage on aircraft or vessels.

Ballistic missile launches by North Korea amount to a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions, the prime minister said, adding that they are “very regrettable.”

Kishi said the missile firings pose “a serious challenge to the international community including Japan.”

North Korea fired short-range ballistic missiles from Hamhung also in August 2019.

The South Korean military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said Thursday that they remain on alert against possible additional projectile launches.

The Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea, at a meeting on Jan. 19, issued an instruction to reconsider all the measures taken by North Korea to build confidence between the country and the United States. Pyongyang also suggested that it could resume nuclear tests and the test-firing of intercontinental ballistic missiles, showing readiness to magnify its menacing behavior on the military front.

JIJI Press