On Sunday, North Korean state TV broadcast photos of leader Kim Jong Un supervising landing and defensive drills.
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Existing UN sanctions ban North Korea from conducting any ballistic missile test, although short-range launches tend to go unpunished.
According to sources, the missiles were fired from a site in the northeastern city of Hamhung and flew for about 125 miles before they went down in the waters off the east coast of North Korea.
With North Korea’s continued protest regarding the various joint military exercises between the USA and South Korean militaries, coupled with North Korea’s ongoing threats of pre-emptive nuclear strikes against both Washington and Seoul, it would seem that peace between peace South and North Korea may be another 63 years away.
SHENYANG, China-China has expanded its embargo on port visits by North Korean freighters in a unilateral sanction to punish Pyongyang for its recent nuclear and missile tests.
“(Kim) noted with great pleasure that the successful test … helped boost the power of ballistic rockets capable of mercilessly striking hostile forces”, KCNA news agency said. China is concerned about the current situation on the Korean Peninsula and calls on Pyongyang to observe all United Nations resolutions, Chinese Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson Hua Chunying told a briefing on Monday.
While the global economy continues to struggle, the article asserted that the USA and its allies would be “surprised” to find out about the North’s current period of growth. “Seoul believes that the North has yet to secure such technology”, said an unnamed South Korean official who asked to remain anonymous.
The North also said that it is ready to destroy South Korea’s presidential office of Cheong Wa Dae in an instant with large-caliber multiple rocket launchers, which it says are deployed for actual combat.
Analysts with the US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University say recent satellite images show what appears to be test-tunnel maintenance activity at North Korea’s Punggye-ri nuclear test complex.
North Korea is known to use liquid propellants for its main ballistic missiles that target South Korea, U.S. bases in the Asia-Pacific region and the American mainland.
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North Korea has conducted a ground test of a heavy-lift, solid-fuel rocket engine and its separation, Chinese media report. In a meeting with senior aides earlier Monday, South Korean President Park Geun-Hye warned of a “very crucial time” for the Korean peninsula.
