North Korea fires 10 multiple rocket launcher shells after trilateral air drills

Seoul: North Korea fired around 10 artillery shells from its multiple rocket launcher system on Thursday, South Korea’s military said, a day after the South conducted joint air drills with the United States and Japan.

The North fired the shells toward the Yellow Sea at around 10 a.m. from the Sunan area near Pyongyang, the military said, adding that South Korean and US intelligence authorities are conducting an analysis of the latest weapon test.

The North’s 240mm multiple rocket launcher puts Seoul and its adjacent areas in target range. Last year, the North conducted a test-launch of what it claimed to be a multiple rocket launcher equipped with a new guidance system, Yonhap news agency reported.

The weapon test came a day after South Korea, the US and Japan conducted a three-way aerial exercise as part of efforts to strengthen their trilateral security cooperation against North Korean military threats.

The exercise, the first to take place under the Lee Jae Myung government, involved the South Korean F-15K, the US F-16 and the Japanese F-2 fighter jets.

Last month, North Korea had fired multiple cruise missiles toward the East Sea, South Korea’s military said, a day after a “serious” accident occurred during Pyongyang’s launch of a new warship.

The launches took place as North Korea said earlier in the day that parts of a new naval destroyer were “crushed” during its launch ceremony, with the North’s leader Kim Jong-un calling it a “criminal act” that could not be tolerated.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected the North’s missile launches from the Sondok area in South Hamgyong Province, without providing further details, such as the number of missiles fired.

The JCS said it is closely monitoring North Korean activities so that Pyongyang does not “misjudge” the current security situation, adding that it is maintaining the capabilities to “overwhelmingly” respond to any provocation.

It marked the North’s latest major missile launch this month after it fired multiple short-range ballistic missiles into the East Sea on May 8.

The South’s military usually does not immediately announce North Korean cruise missile launches, compared with ballistic ones, which are banned under UN Security Council resolutions.

–IANS