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Pentagon: North Korea launches new ballistic missiles

North Korea launched a ballistic missile off the east coast of the Korean peninsula, as reports CNN, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said Friday.

Pentagon: North Korea launches new ballistic missiles

Pentagon: North Korea launches new ballistic missiles

STEPANAKERT, MARCH 18, ARTSAKHPRESS: The South Korean military said it was closely tracking and monitoring the situation and maintaining a readiness posture for any North Korean provocation.

The launch was confirmed by U.S. officials. A U.S. defense official told CNN the United States tracked two ballistic missiles.

The launch came around 5:55 a.m. local time, near Sukchon county, South Pyongan province, and flew a distance of 800 kilometers, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said.

It comes one week after North Korea fired two missiles from North Hwanghae province, south of Pyongyang, toward the sea east of the Korean Peninsula, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said.

The South tracked the projectiles and is monitoring the situation, it said.

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe condemned North Korea's actions and called on the country "to exercise self-restraint." He said Japan would take "precautionary measures," including surveillance.

The action is the latest display of military power on the peninsula that roils with tension.

Last week's launch appeared to be confirmed in a report from the state-run Korean Central News Agency. It followed a North Korean claim that it had miniaturized nuclear warheads to fit on ballistic missiles, according to KCNA.

The agency published a statement that "all agreements on economic cooperation and business exchanges adopted by North and South are invalid."

And Seoul last month ordered the closure of the Kaesong industrial complex, a rare symbol of cooperation between the two Koreas.

Describing the shuttering of Kaesong as a "unilateral" move, KCNA said Pyongyang "will completely liquidate all South Korean companies and relevant assets" within its borders.

Seoul has condemned the suspension of economic ties, with the Unification Ministry saying it would "never accept" the move, which it described as a "provocative action."

The statement added it would hold Pyongyang responsible for any damage to South Korean assets north of the border.

Tensions have heightened on the Korean Peninsula since a fourth North Korean nuclear test and joint U.S.-South Korean military drills.


     

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