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[앵커]
North Korea launched a short-range ballistic missile into the East Sea today.
Three days ago, we tested a strategic cruise missile and a surface-to-air missile, but this time we fired a ballistic missile.
Let’s contact a reporter from the Ministry of Defense to hear more details.
Reporter Ji Seong-rim.
[기자]
Yes, the Joint Chiefs of Staff announced that North Korea had launched several short-range ballistic missiles from the Pyongyang area into the East Sea around 3 pm today.
A North Korean ballistic missile is said to have landed in the East Sea after flying about 300 km.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff said, “Our military immediately detected and tracked and monitored North Korean missile launches, and shared related information closely with the United States and Japan.”
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, with the exception of the 600mm super multiple rocket launcher firing exercise held on March 18, the other two were all test launches of medium to long range ballistic missiles using solid fuel propellants.
There are speculations that North Korea’s ballistic missile launch today could be a show of force in response to the ROK-US joint military training (KFT).
The ROK-US Air Force is conducting a joint formation exercise involving about 100 military aircraft from both countries at Kunsan Air Force Base from the 12th to the 26th.
The US Air Force MQ-9 Reaper unmanned attack aircraft, known as the ‘Sky Assassin’, also took part in this training.
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 Kunsan Base is about 350 km, which is similar to the flight distance of the ballistic missile launched today.
So far, we have received information from the Ministry of National Defence.
Yonhap News TV article inquiries and reports: KakaoTalk/Line jebo23
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