South Korea's semi-official Yonhap news agency cited the South Korean Defense Ministry as saying that North Korea launched three short-range guided missiles into the sea off the Korean Peninsula's east coast Saturday.
The ministry said it had detected two launches in the morning, followed by another in the afternoon. The missiles were fired in a northeasterly direction, away from South Korean waters.
Andrew Salmon, a journalist and author based in Seoul, said North Korea's reported launch of short-range missiles should not cause the same amount of concern as the launch of a satellite or the medium-range Musudan rocket. He said, "It's a short-range tactical weapon. If any other country launched this kind of weapon, it's a routine test, nobody would be too worried. It's really simply because it's North Korea doing this that it raises concerns."
The situation in the region is not as tense as it was last month, Salmon said. He said, "The North Koreans have significantly de-escalated their bellicosity and their rhetoric since the end of April. The South Korean government, I suspect, will not be strongly condemnatory of this test because right now they are very, very keen to get the North Koreans to the negotiating table." |