(AP Photo/Ng Han Guan).
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This latest provocation from North Korea comes two months after the US and South Korea announced plans for an advanced missile defense system – the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense system, or THAAD – to protect South Korea against an attack from the North.
The missiles were launched from the Hwangju region, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said on Monday, according to the Yonhap news agency.
In early August, another Rodong missile fired by North Korea also traveled about 1,000 kilometers, the longest-ever flight by that missile.
Japan´s defence ministry said that the three missiles are estimated to have fallen into the country´s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in the Sea of Japan, according to a statement.
Defense Minister Tomomi Inada said they fell off the northwestern coast of Hokkaido.
Three Rodong ballistic missiles, fired by the DPRK on August 3, also fell into Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ). President Barack Obama was to head to Laos on Monday evening.
The launches, coming as the G-20 meeting continued in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou and just days before North Korea marks the 68th anniversary of the formation of its government, constituted an “armed protest”, a South Korean military spokesman said.
Park Geun-hye however defended the decision to station the US THAAD anti-missile system as an “inevitable, self-defense” measure to counter threats stemming from Pyongyang.
China is reclusive North Korea’s lone major ally.
In July, the North launched three missiles in a single day from the western region that flew across the country and into the sea off its east coast, flying about 500 km and 600 km (300-360 miles). Submarine-based missiles are harder to detect before launch than land-based ones like Rodongs. The ministry said that the missiles were likely to have been short-range Scud missiles or Nodong medium-range ballistic missiles, which have a striking range that includes Japan, the ministry said.
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“North Korea’s ballistic missile launch is a direct violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions aimed at showing off its nuclear and missile capabilities during the G20 summit”, he added.
