North Korea yesterday fired what appeared to be two short-range missiles into the sea and launched a scathing attack on “foolish” calls for dialogue from South Korean President Moon Jae-in.
It was the sixth round of launches in the past few weeks in protest at ongoing joint military drills between Seoul and the US.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has described the tests as a “solemn warning” to the South.
Pyongyang has routinely expressed anger at the war games, which it considers rehearsals for an invasion, but in the past has avoided carrying out tests while the maneuvers are taking place.
The South Korean military said the projectiles were fired from near Tongchon and flew about 230km before falling into the Sea of Japan.
They were “presumed to be short-range ballistic missiles,” a US Joint Chiefs of Staff official said, adding that further analysis would be required to confirm that.
The latest test came as the North’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Country said that it rejected comments by Moon on Thursday outlining his desire for unification and said it had nothing more to discuss with the South.
It called Moon — who has long favored dialogue with the North — an “impudent guy rare to be found,” for hoping for a resumption of inter-Korean talks while continuing military drills with Washington.
In a speech on Thursday marking the anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Japan’s rule in 1945, Moon outlined a goal of “achieving peace and unification by 2045,” although his single five-year term ends in 2022.
“His speech deserves the comments ‘foolish commemorative speech,’” the North said in its statement. “We have nothing to talk any more with the South Korean authorities nor have any idea to sit with them again.”
The South Korean Ministry of Unification said the North’s comments are not “consistent” with the spirit of inter-Korean agreements, including the Panmunjom Declaration signed by Moon and Kim in April last year.
“We want to clearly point out that [the comments] won’t help the improvement of inter-Korean relations at all,” a ministry official said.
The joint US-South Korea drills have been held for years.
They were scaled down to ease tensions with Pyongyang, but the North last week threatened to carry out more weapons tests following the start of the latest joint drills between Seoul and Washington, which began on Monday last week.
Moon has played down the North’s recent tests, even suggesting potential inter-Korean economic projects as a way to tackle the South’s ongoing trade row with Japan, prompting critics to accuse him of having a “peace fantasy.”
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