North Korea fired four surface-to-ship missiles from its east coast, just hours after South Korea decided to temporarily halt the deployment of the U.S. military’s THAAD missile defense systems, the South Korean military said.
“North Korea fired multiple unidentified projectiles, assumed to be surface-to-ship missiles, this morning from the vicinity of Wonsan, Gangwon Province,” the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said, according to the Yonhap News Agency.
“We assess that North Korea intended to show off its various missile capabilities, display its precise targeting capability, in the form of armed protests against ships in regard to U.S. Navy carrier strike groups and joint naval drills,” Roh Jae-cheon, a spokesman for South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters.
The missiles flew about 200 kilometers, or about 124 miles, the South Korean military said in a statement, CNN reported.
“Our military has strengthened surveillance and alertness readiness in cases of additional provocation by North Korean military and is maintaining all readiness posture while we are tracking and monitoring related situation,” the statement read.
The latest launch came less than a week after the United Nations Security Council passed a new resolution that imposed new sanctions on North Korea.
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