North Korea Fires Short-range Ballistic Missiles into Sea, South Korea Says

By Staff, Agencies

North Korea fired two projectiles that appeared to be short-range ballistic missiles into the sea off the east coast of the Korean peninsula, South Korea’s military reported.

The launch on Saturday follows two earlier this month, when North Korea fired short-range missiles and multiple projectiles, according to South Korea’s military, drawing US and Chinese appeals for Pyongyang to return to talks on ending its nuclear and missile programs.

The suspected missiles were fired from North Pyongan province, South Korea’s joint chiefs of staff said. The province is above Pyongyang on the north-west corner of the Korean peninsula bordering China.

Japan’s coast guard said on Saturday that North Korea appeared to have fired a missile, which landed outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone waters.

Earlier on Saturday, North Korea announced it would hold in April a session of the Supreme People’s Assembly, its rubber-stamp legislature, in Pyongyang, which analysts predicted would involve gathering almost 700 of the country’s leaders in one spot as the coronavirus spreads worldwide.