North Korea fires 2 missiles into sea: South Korea

Seoul says North Korea has fired two suspected short-range missiles into the sea, the fourth such test in two weeks.

The projectiles were fired from a western province into waters east of the Korean Peninsula in the early hours of Wednesday, South Korean officials said.

“North Korea fired two short-range missiles presumed to be Scud-type ones… from a site in Hwanghae province in a north-easterly direction,” said South Korean military spokesman Um Hyo-sik as cited by the country’s Yonhap news agency.

“They flew some 500km (310 miles) and landed in international waters,” he added.

The development follows a recent visit by the Chinese President Xi Jinping to South Korea. President Xi and his South Korean counterpart Park Geun-hye reaffirmed their opposition to North Korean nuclear tests during recent talks in Seoul.

Pyongyang has reportedly carried out several such missile launches in recent months, including four within the last two weeks.

It has interspersed these launches with apparently conciliatory moves toward the South, including a recent offer to suspend provocative military activities and slander.

North and South Korea, meanwhile, remain technically at war because the 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice, not a peace deal.