N Korea conducts another missile test
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North Korean defectors conduct their own launch ... balloons carrying anti-Pyongyang leaflets. (AFP : Jung Yeon-Je )
North Korea has fired three more missiles today, further heightening regional tensions.
South Korean military officials believe the missiles were Scuds with a range of about 500 kilometres.
The Scuds pose a more serious threat than the communist North's short range missiles because they can strike most of South Korea.
Two days ago the North fired missiles into the Sea of Japan, drawing more international condemnation.
Pyongyang has warned all ships to stay away from designated live fire zones off its east and west coasts for another week.
"North Korea launched two missiles this morning," South Korea's joint chiefs of staff said in a statement.
The missiles were launched between 8:00am and 8:30am (local time) from Kitdaeryong Base near the eastern port of Wonsan into the Sea of Japan," the statement said.
"The military, on the basis of a strong joint defence alliance with the United States, is fully prepared to fend off any threats or provocations by the North."
An unidentified government official quoted by Yonhap news agency said both of the missiles were believed to be Scuds, which would allow the North to strike most of South Korea.
North Korea fired four short-range missiles on Thursday into the Sea of Japan, but the range of those missiles was estimated to be only around 120 kilometres.
"The Scuds fired today impose [a] greater security threat to us because of their longer ranges," the official was quoted as saying by Yonhap.
"Thursday's missile tests were apparently made as part of a military drill, but today's launches, which came on the eve of the US Independence Day, are believed to be aimed at political purposes."
Japan has condemned the tests, describing them as a "serious act of provocation" against security in the region.
This week's missile launches were the first military action the hardline communist state had taken since the United Nations on June 12 imposed tougher sanctions for its May 25 nuclear test.
In the days after its atomic test - the second since 2006 - the North also fired a volley of short-range missiles.
In response to the UN resolution tightening curbs on its missile and atomic activities, it vowed to build more nuclear bombs.
It also renounced the truce brokered on the Korean peninsula after a civil war in 1950 to 1953.
- AFP
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