北, 단거리 탄도미사일 2발 동해상으로 발사: 합참
Our top story today, North Korea fired two more projectiles, assumed to be short-range ballistic missiles, into the East Sea on Saturday morning.
It's the second launch in four days and... the fifth in just over two weeks.
Our Kim Ji-yeon starts us off.
South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said North Korea launched two short-range ballistic missiles in the early hours of
Saturday... towards the East Sea... at around 5:34 AM and 5:50 AM, Korea time, from its eastern city of Hamhung in Hamgyongnam-do Province.
The missiles reached a maximum altitude of around 48 kilometers... and flew some 400 kilometers... recording a maximum flight speed of Mach 6-point-1... that's around seven-thousand-466 kilometers an hour.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff said it's working with the U.S. to verify further information about the missiles... while monitoring the situation for additional launches... as well as firmly maintaining its defense posture.
It said it believes the North is conducting summertime military training and with the start of the Combined Command Post Training... it sees it highly likely North Korea launched the missiles as a warning over the South Korea-U.S. joint training.
Saturday's firing is the fifth such launch in just over two weeks.
According to the Joint Chiefs, the missiles were mostly short-range and ballistic... and were fired in the early hours... in a northeasterly direction towards the East Sea... all flying at altitudes of less than 50 kilometers.
It believes the North test-fired a new type of short-range ballistic missile, North Korea's version of Russia's Iskander-class missile... which is believed to be harder to intercept due to its complicated flight trajectory... although the Joint Chiefs of Staff made reassurances that they're able to neutralize the missiles with the existing Patriot anti-missile system... based upon simulations.
Regarding the missiles fired on Saturday, Japan's Ministry of Defense in a statement ... said it cannot confirm the arrival of the ballistic missiles in its territory or its Exclusive Economic Zone... and cannot confirm a situation of an imminent threat to Japan's safety.
The U.S. is reportedly aware of the launch and is consulting closely with its allies, South Korea and Japan.
Reuters quoted a senior U.S. government official who said the U.S. sees the launch or launches as missiles... similar to the previous short-range missiles fired by the North over the past two weeks.
Kim Ji-yeon, Arirang News.
