From last four days, North Korea has conducted multiple launches of short range and scud missiles and
rockets too to coincide with the annual joint military drills whereas South Korea is conducting with the
United States.
North Korea has test-fired two ballistic missiles, as US President Barack Obama hosted a landmark
Japan-South Korea summit and pledged “unwavering commitment” to Tokyo and Seoul’s security
concerns in the face of Pyongyang’s nuclear threat.
South Korea’s defense ministry said both missiles flew 650 kilometers (400 miles) into the Sea of Japan,
upping the ante after a series of short-range missile and rocket launches by the North in recent weeks.
The Scuds are at the longer edge of the short-range spectrum, with an estimated reach of 300-800
kilometers – capable of striking any target in the South.
South Korea condemned the Scud launches as a “reckless provocation” but both Seoul and Washington
stopped short of calling for UN sanctions, given the short-range of the missiles and a recent easing of
North-South tensions.
The North Korean military had defended the tests as “ordinary military practice”. North Korea has
hundreds of short-range missiles and has developed and tested – with limited success – several
intermediate-range models.
Its claims to have a working inter-continental ballistic missile have been treated with skepticism by most
experts, but there is no doubt that it is pushing ahead with an active, ambitious missile development
program. South Korea’s military exercises with the United States, which will wind up next month, are an
annual source of North-South tension.