[UPDATES] Pyongyang fires missiles amid escalating row over US missile shield

By Park Sae-jin Posted : August 3, 2016, 09:31 Updated : August 3, 2016, 13:24

[Yonhap News Photo]


North Korea fired two mid-range ballistic missiles Wednesday as Northeast Asia was caught up in a row over the deployment of an advanced US missile shield in South Korea, military officials said.

Two Rodong intermediate-range missiles were launched around 7:50 am (2250 GMT) from a base in Unryul southwest of Pyongyang,  the South's joint chiefs staff said, adding one exploded right after its launch and the other landed in the Sea of Japan (East Sea) after flying about 1,000 kilometers (620 miles). 

Japan condemned the launch as a serious provocation saying one missile fell into its exclusive economic zone. Seoul accused Pyongyang of revealing "open and blatant" ambitions that the nuclear-armed country could attack South Korea and its neighbor with missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads.  

Wednesday's launch came two weeks after North Korea test-fired three missiles on July 19 in what Seoul officials called an exercise targeting the controversial deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system by US troops stationed in South Korea.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un supervised the earlier launch and praised the accuracy of ballistic missiles mounted with nuclear warheads in a simulated attack on South Korean ports and airfields to be used for the arrival of US military equipment.

Pyongyang has threatened to take physical action against the THAAD battery.

US and South Korean officials have stressed the missile defense system would be used solely to cope with North Korean nuclear and missile threats without being directed towards any third-party nation.

But fears have been growing in South Korea that the THAAD dispute could seriously hurt Seoul's economic and diplomatic relations with Beijing and Moscow. The THAAD row comes as South Korea seeks to balance the strategic priorities of its main military ally, the United States, against those of its biggest trade partner, China.

Beijing has warned the THAAD deployment would "seriously" hurt strategic interests of China and other countries as well as the security balance in Northeast Asia.

Aju News Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
기사 이미지 확대 보기
닫기