North Korea launches 2 ballistic missiles into Sea of Japan
North Korea launched Friday two short-range ballistic missiles toward the Sea of Japan, with the projectiles falling outside of Japan’s exclusive economic zone, according to the South Korean military and the Japanese government.
There were no reports of damage, a Japanese government source said.
The South Korean military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said they were launched from the Tongchon area in Kangwon Province in the eastern part of the country between 11:59 am and 12:18 pm.
The JCS added the missiles flew some 230 kilometers at a maximum altitude of 24 km with their top speed reaching Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound.
The launches marked the North’s 28th round of missile tests this year, including those of cruise missiles, and came as Seoul and Washington are set to conduct major joint air force drills from next Monday for the first time in five years.
The North last fired a ballistic missile on Oct. 14.
There were no launches during the Chinese Communist Party’s week-long, twice-a-decade congress through Oct. 22, at which leader Xi Jinping secured an unprecedented third five-year term as general secretary.
Tensions remain high on the Korean Peninsula, with North and South Korea exchanging warning shots along a disputed western maritime boundary in the Yellow Sea earlier this week.
Speculation has been growing that the North could conduct a seventh nuclear test, its first since September 2017, in the near future.