North Korea test-fires 2 short-range missiles weeks after Trump-Kim meeting

The American and South Korean militaries are analyzing the details of the latest test launch by North Korea, in which a couple of short-range ballistic missiles were fired towards the Sea of Japan.

Pyongyang fired the projectiles using a transporter erector launcher (TEL) about 20 minutes apart from the Wonson area early Thursday morning, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said, noting that the short-range missiles flew for around 430 kilometers at an altitude of around 50 kilometers before falling into the Sea of Japan. The South Korean military said it maintains “readiness posture.”

The US has yet to comment on the launch, which could potentially undermine the American-N. Korean negotiations on the denuclearization of the peninsula, even though President Trump said earlier that such low-profile tests did not bother him much.

The missile test was the first in months and was held just weeks after US President Donald Trump met his N. Korean counterpart Kim Jong-un in the demilitarized zone (DMZ) between the two Koreas and agreed to resume stalled nuclear talks.

In May, Pyongyang held a series of short-range missile launches, which US officials claim N. Korea has repeated on Thursday. JCS, however, insists that more analysis is needed to verify if the missiles fired Thursday had ballistic capabilities. On Tuesday, Chairman Kim inspected the country’s new submarine and its combat weapons systems, which some experts suspect could be capable of launching ballistic missiles.

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