North Korea fires short range projectiles

North Korea had launched two "unidentified projectiles" from the area of Wonsan, a city on the country's eastern coast, into the Sea of Japan.

Iran Press/Asia: "Our military is monitoring the situation in case of additional launches and maintaining a readiness posture," South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement on Thursday, according to Yonhap.

Citing a Japanese government source, Kyodo reported that the projectiles were "short-range ballistic missiles", Yonhap News Agency reported.

A US official said the weapons were "short-range".

 

The joint chiefs noted that one unidentified projectile was fired at 5:34 a.m. and the other at 5:57 a.m., flying "around 430 kilometers" before falling into the Sea of Japan.

Earlier this year, Pyongyang resumed missile tests following a moratorium of over a year, as negotiations with Washington over disarmament and denuclearization stalled amid refusals to lower sanctions against the socialist country.

Still, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has signaled a willingness to return to the negotiation table, even while sending the parallel message that he's unwilling to give up his country's only guarantee of safety without substantial movement from the US toward reconciliation and a mutual defusing of tensions on the peninsula.

Earlier on June 5, Pyongyang once again urged Washington to reflect upon the 'correct strategic choice' to resume talks before its patience wears down.

The country's most recent test was on May 9: a pair of missiles timed precisely 9 minutes before and 9 minutes after a US test of a nuclear Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) to send a message to Washington. 104

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