S.Korean military says N.Korea launched two ballistic missiles: Yonhap
People watch a television screen showing a news broadcast with file footage of a North Korean missile test, at a railway station in Seoul on May 25, 2022, after North Korea fired three ballistic missiles towards the Sea of Japan according to South Korea's military.
- By Agence France-Presse (AFP)
- May 25, 2022 9:27 AM
Seoul, South Korea | North Korea test launched two ballistic missiles towards the sea off its east coast on Wednesday, just days after a visit to South Korea by US President Joe Biden.
The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff announced both launches, the Yonhap news agency said in two back-to-back reports, adding that the type of missile was "unspecified."
The launches mark the latest in a blitz of sanctions-busting weapons tests by Pyongyang this year, and come after fears that leader Kim Jong Un would carry out a nuclear test while Biden was in the region.
While in South Korea, Biden joined newly elected President Yoon Suk-yeol for talks, including discussing expanded military exercises to counter Kim's sabre rattling.
On his last day in Seoul, Biden told reporters he had a only a short message for Kim: "Hello. Period."
And he added that the United States was "prepared for anything North Korea does."
Kim has recently doubled down on his programme of military modernisation.
Included among Pyongyang's multitude of tests this year was the firing of an intercontinental ballistic missile at full range.
Despite struggling with a recent Covid-19 outbreak, new satellite imagery has indicated the North has resumed construction at a long-dormant nuclear reactor.
© Agence France-Presse
