North Korea yesterday fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the sea, Seoul said, as South Korea and the US conducted massive war games.
The North also announced it has scrapped all agreements with the South on commercial exchange projects and would “liquidate” South Korean assets left behind in its territory.
North Korea has a large stockpile of short-range missiles and is developing long-range and intercontinental missiles as well. The missiles fired yesterday flew about 500km off its east coast city of Wonsan and were likely from the Soviet-developed Scud series, the South Korean Ministry of Defense said.
Japan, which is within range of the longer-range variant of Scud missiles, or the upgraded Rodong missiles, lodged a protest through the North Korean embassy in Beijing, Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported.
North Korea often fires short-range missiles when tensions rise on the Korean Peninsula. Pyongyang gets particularly upset about the annual US-South Korea drills, which it says are preparations for an invasion.
The US and South Korea remain technically at war with the North because the 1950-1953 Korean War ended in an armed truce instead of a peace agreement.
About 17,000 US military personnel are participating alongside about 300,000 South Korean troops in what the ministry has called the “largest-ever” joint military exercises.
North Korea on Sunday warned it would make a “pre-emptive and offensive nuclear strike” in response to the exercises.
After yesterday’s short-range missile launches, North Korea announced it would “liquidate” South Korean assets left behind in the Kaesong industrial zone and in the Mount Kumgang tourist zone.
Seoul suspended operations in the jointly-run industrial zone last month as punishment for the North’s rocket launch and nuclear test.
Mount Kumgang was the first major inter-Korean cooperation project. Thousands of South Koreans visited the resort between 1998 and 2008. Seoul ended the tours in 2008 after a North Korean soldier shot dead a South Korean tourist who wandered into a restricted zone.
North Korea is also livid about stepped up UN sanctions following its recent nuclear test and long-range missile launch.
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