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| People watch a TV showing a file image of an unspecified North Korea's missile launch during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, Sept. 10, 2019. AP-Yonhap |
North Korea fired unidentified short-range projectiles toward the East Sea on Wednesday, South Korea's military said, ahead of the envisioned resumption of the stalled denuclearization talks with the United States.
The projectiles were launched from an area in the eastern coastal town of Wonsan earlier in the day, the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said without providing further details, such as their type, flight range and maximum altitude.
Sources said the North is believed to have fired two projectiles, and the JCS spotted one of the firings at 7:11 a.m.
"Our military is monitoring the situation in case of additional launches and maintaining a readiness posture," the JCS said in a release.
According to foreign media reports, Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a press conference that North Korea launched two ballistic missiles and one of them fell into the country's exclusive economic zone.
The firing came a day after the North's First Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui said that Pyongyang and Washington agreed to resume working-level nuclear talks this week. The two sides will have "preliminary contact" on Friday and working-level negotiations the following day, Choe said without disclosing the venue.
The U.S. State Department only said the two sides plan to "meet within the next week."
The nuclear talks have been stalled since the breakdown of the summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Hanoi in February.
Analysts said the North could aim to strengthen its negotiating hand with the weapons tests.
It is the 11th such launches by the North so far this year, as it has carried out missile or rocket firings since May in succession after an 18-month hiatus. The last one took place on Sept. 10 when it is believed to have test-fired two or three projectiles from what it dubbed its "super-large" multiple rocket launcher system.
Covering the news of the firing the following day, the North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) hinted that more tests could be coming as it said the remaining step is to carry out a test "which is most vivid character in terms of the power of multiple rocket launchers."
During the previous 10 rounds of tests, North Korea was believed to have showed off four new types of weapons: its version of Russia's Iskander ballistic missile, its version of the U.S.' Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS), "a new large-caliber multiple launch guided rocket system" presumed to be a 400-millimeter one and the super-large launcher.
As for its version of Iskander, the North has tested it at least five times so far this year, including the launches from its northwestern area of Kusong toward the East Sea.
Wednesday's test-firing also came a day after South Korea officially marked its introduction of F-35A stealth fighters for the first time during the Armed Forces Day ceremony.
South Korea has so far brought in eight F-35As, beginning with two in late March, under a plan to deploy 40 fifth-generation jets through 2021.
North Korea has intensified its criticism against South Korea for the introduction of such advanced weaponry, claiming that such a military buildup is aimed at destroying North Korea, and it is in violation of last year's inter-Korean military agreement that calls for halting hostility against each other. (Yonhap)
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