Politics

North Korea fires four projectiles from multiple rocket launchers

Seoul, Mar 20 (EFE).- North Korea Sunday fired at least four projectiles from multiple rocket launchers into the Yellow Sea in its latest weapons test, a South Korean military told EFE.

The launch began around 7.20 am and continued for over an hour from the South Pyongan province as the projectiles landed into the sea called the West Sea in the two Koreas.

The weapons test, which does not violate United Nations resolutions, follows the ten missile launches North Korea conducted this year.

The South Korean Yonhap news agency said the National Security Council met in Seoul after the North’s latest launch.

“There were shots believed to be that of North Korea’s multiple rocket launchers this morning,” Yonhap quoted a South Korean military official saying.

“We are maintaining our defense readiness posture while closely following related developments,” the official said.

North Korea has carried out three recent launches that South Korea, Japan, and the United States say were meant to test technology for Hwasong-17, a new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) with greater range and destructive power.

The latest of these tests on Mar.16 was unsuccessful, with the projectile exploding before reaching an altitude of about 20 km.

South Korean military said the failed launch was conducted from Sunan.

Sunan houses Pyongyang airport. The regime conducted two launches on Feb.27 and Mar.5 from the same spot.

North Korea claims it is pursuing the deployment of a new reconnaissance satellite with these launches.

However, Washington, Seoul, and Tokyo have dismissed the claim, saying it was in preparation for a full-test of the ICBM disguised as a space launch.

That warning coincided with North Korea’s announcement of the visit of leader Kim Jong-un to the Sohae satellite launching station and its plans to improve and expand the facilities to launch reconnaissance satellites onboard larger carrier rockets.

At the 2021 single-party Congress, the North Korean regime outlined arms modernization plans. EFE

asb/ssk

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