New York : North Korea fired two missiles from its eastern coast on Wednesday, claimed South Korean and U.S. officials.
Commander Dave Benham, spokesman for the U.S. Pacific Command said both are believed to be Musudan intermediate-range missiles, fired from the North Korean port city of Wonsan.
South Korea’s Unification Ministry spokesman Jeong Joon Hee called Pyongyang’s move provocation towards the country.
“According to the U.N. Security Council resolution, any launches that involve ballistic missile technology are a violation of the treaty and we think this is clearly a provocation towards us,” CNN quoted Jeong as saying.
According to the South Korean military official, the first missile flew 93 miles (150 km), and is considered a failed launch.
While the second missile traveled 249 miles (400 km) and the data is still being analyzed by the South Korean military.
Pyongyang has made at least four attempts this year to test this type of missile, reports suggest.
Commander Benham said that both missiles were tracked over the Sea of Japan, also known as the East Sea.
Stressing that the move was in violation of U.N. resolutions, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said that his country could “never forgive” the test.
“We can never forgive this and lodged a firm protest. We would like to continue taking a close coordination with the U.S. and South Korea and working on North Korea (at) the United Nations, so that North Korea would not conduct such an action again,” he said.
The first missile launch occurred at 5:58 a.m. local time and about two hours later, North Korea fired the second missile at 8:05 a.m. local time.
The U.S. State Department also condemned the missile tests in a statement.
“We are aware of reports that the DPRK fired two ballistic missiles. We are monitoring and continuing to assess the situation in close coordination with our regional allies and partners,” said U.S. State Department spokesperson John Kirby.
Kirby said that Washington has Pyongyang to stop its ballistic missile tests and said it only strengthened the international community’s resolve to press forward with U.N. sanctions.
“We remain prepared to defend ourselves and our allies from any attack or provocation,” he added.
Despite facing strict UN sanctions, North Korea remains undeterred and continues to conduct test like such on regular basis.
In just four years, since Kim Jong-un took control of North Korea’s affairs, the country has reportedly witnessed 27 missile launches with the two most recent tests today.(ANI)