North Korea Fires Four Missiles Off Eastern Coast, South Korea Says
March 6, 2017
North Korea fired four ballistic missiles off its eastern coast on Monday, a South Korean military official told NBC News.
The missiles were fired at about 7:36 a.m. Monday (5:36 p.m. Sunday ET) and traveled about 620 miles, the official said. They landed in the East Sea, also called the Sea of Japan, the official said.
After calling a meeting of the National Security Council's Standing Committee on Monday morning, South Korea's acting president, Hwang Kyo-ahn, said the launch signaled "a real and imminent threat to the safety of our people."
Hwang called on the United States to complete the installation of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, an advanced missile defense system that the two countries announced on July 8 to counter North Korea's nuclear and missile programs.
After the announcement, North Korea's military threatened an unspecified "counter-action" that would turn the south into a "sea of fire."
The South Korean official called the latest launch a clear violation of U.N. Security Council arms resolutions and added that it was in response "to the tough stance" of the Trump administration.
Defense Department officials said the missile launch did not pose a threat to North America.
Pyongyang on Friday threatened to conduct more missile tests in response to an annual two-month joint-military exercise between Seoul and Washington, which continues through April.
Last month, North Korea launched a ballistic missile toward the Sea of Japan, a move that South Korea's military described as a "show of force" to the Trump administration.
Rodong Sinmun, the North Korean ruling party's official newspaper, said in a commentary that "new types of strategic weapons will soar" if Seoul and Washington continue their annual drills, which the North claims are preparation for war against it, the South Korean news agency Yonhap reported.
But Jeong Joon-hee, a spokesman for the South Korean Unification Ministry, told NBC News that North Korea often fired ballistic missiles "regardless of whether we are holding regular military exercises with the U.S. or not."
"It may look as if North Korea is responding to the ongoing S.K.-U.S. military exercise by firing missiles, but what North Korea really seems to be doing is attempting to discredit the legitimacy of our regular military exercise," Jeong said.
