Tension as N’Korea fires ballistic missile to pile pressure on US over denuclearisation talks

Defiant North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un has increased tension in the Hodo Peninsula after monitoring the firing of two short ballistic missiles off its east coast.

Close watchers say the missile launch which is the second weapons test in less than a week could be aimed at putting pressure on the US to set up new denuclearisation talks.

According to South Korea’s military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), the projectiles were launched early from the Hodo Peninsula in South Hamgyong province on North Korea’s east coast.

The two missiles “flew around 250km at an altitude of 30km before falling into the East Sea”, also known as the Sea of Japan, JCS said.

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South Korean officials said the two missiles appeared to be of a different type than those launched on Thursday.

South Korean authorities say it was monitoring the situation in case of additional launches and is on standby, Yonhap added.

“The North’s repeated missile launches are not helpful to an effort to ease tensions on the Korean Peninsula and we urge [North Korea] to stop this kind of behaviour,” a JCS statement said.

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