North Korea Launches Short-Range Ballistic Missiles Amid ROK-US Training Objections

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[앵커]

North Korea launched a short-range ballistic missile into the East Sea today.

This is the fourth ballistic missile launch this year.

There are speculations that today’s show of force may be in response to the joint formation training that the ROK-US air forces are currently conducting at Kunsan Air Force Base.

This is reporter Ji Seong-rim.

[기자]

The Joint Chiefs of Staff announced that North Korea had launched a number of short-range ballistic missiles from the Pyongyang area into the East Sea at around 3 pm today.

The North Korean ballistic missile flew about 300 km before falling into the East Sea.

North Korea’s missile provocation comes three days after the test-fire of a strategic cruise missile and a new surface-to-air missile on the 19th.

This is the fourth ballistic missile launch this year, just 20 days after the 2nd of this month.

Of the three previous ballistic missile launches, two were test launches of medium to long range hypersonic missiles using solid fuel propellants.

The remaining one was a 600mm super-large multiple rocket launcher shooting exercise held under the observation of Kim Jong-un on March 18, and the ROK and US military authorities are distributing super-large multiple rocket launchers North Korea’s major short-range ballistic missiles.

Given that multiple rounds were fired this time, there is speculation that it could be a super-large 600mm multiple rocket launcher.

There is speculation that today’s ballistic missile launch was a show of force in response to joint ROK-US force training (KFT).

The ROK-US Air Force conducts comprehensive training on joint formations at Kunsan Air Force Base from the 12th to the 26th.

While around 100 military aircraft from both countries were mobilized, the US Air Force’s MQ-9 Reaper, an unmanned attack aircraft known as ‘Assassin of the Sky’, took part in the training for the first time also attracted attention.

This raises the possibility that North Korea may have launched several short-range ballistic missiles simulating a strike at the Kunsan Air Force Base.

The straight line distance from Pyongyang to Gunsan is about 350 km, which is similar to the flight distance of the ballistic missile launched today.

This is Ji Seong-rim from Yonhap News TV. (yoonik@yna.co.kr)

Yonhap News TV article inquiries and reports: KakaoTalk/Line jebo23

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