SEOUL — Thursday’s tally from South Korea’s military put the North Korean launch at about 10 short-range ballistic missiles. All of them headed for the sea off the North’s east coast.
In its statement, the Joint Chiefs of Staff put the launches at about 12:30 p.m. and placed the launch area around Wonsan. Reuters reported the statement.
Readiness is up on the South Korean side. Seoul’s forces are watching for a follow-up launch and passing what they pick up to the United States and Japan.
Tokyo got a piece of it too. Japan’s Defence Ministry said an object, possibly a ballistic missile, came down outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone, Yonhap News Agency reported. The Japan Coast Guard said the projectile was already in the sea.
Before Thursday, the North last fired a ballistic missile on Oct. 12. The year’s count of Pyongyang missile tests is already past 10.
Six days earlier, on Oct. 23, Seoul had asked for military talks meant to keep border incidents from spiraling. The North never replied. A landmine blast last month, which wounded South Korean soldiers, is what pushed border tension up in the first place.
The firing also landed on the day South Korea’s defence minister, Kang Shin-cheol, planned to raise the mine issue at a meeting of regional defence ministers in the Philippines, Aju Press reported.
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