North Korea Launches Missiles for
3rd Straight Day
By CHOE SANG-HUN
Published: May 20, 2013
SEOUL — North Korea launched short-range projectiles on Monday into waters off its east coast for a third straight day, officials here said, despite warnings from the United States and South Korea against increasing tensions.
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The North has launched a total of six short-range projectiles since Saturday, including two Monday, in what are believed to have been tests of short-range guided missiles or rockets from multiple launchers, officials said.
“We remain vigilant for the possibility that the North may launch more” missiles and rockets, a spokesman for the South Korean Defense Ministry said, insisting upon anonymity until his government made a formal announcement.
He said a projectile was launched from the North’s east coast in a northeasterly direction Monday morning, followed by another in the afternoon.
Kim Jang-soo, the national security director at the presidential office in Seoul, responded to the first launching Monday by affirming South Korea’s call for the North to stop firing missiles. He said that the launchings, whether intended to test Pyongyang’s weapons or to demonstrate its firepower, “raised tensions,” according to Kim Haing, a presidential spokeswoman.
After months of bellicose rhetoric from the North, relative quiet had appeared to be settling on the Korean Peninsula until Saturday, when the North suddenly launched three projectiles and followed with another launching Sunday. The moves have rattled the region, where governments remain puzzled over Pyongyang’s motives.
North Korea routinely tests its short-range missiles, which are primarily designed to strike South Korea and American military bases there. But analysts say the North’s missile tests are often timed to raise tensions and push Washington and Seoul to consider economic and diplomatic concessions.
North Korea said Monday that the launchings were part of its normal military drills. In a statement carried by Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency, the North’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland said it was “brigandish sophism” for Washington and Seoul to accuse the North of raising tensions when they themselves recently staged far bigger military exercises involving a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.
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