North Korea fires multiple-rocket launcher, South Korea says

North Korea appeared to have fired a short-range a number of rocket launcher on Sunday, South Korea’s army mentioned, amid heightened army tensions on the peninsula after a spate of bigger missile launches by the nuclear-armed North.

Whereas they garner a lot much less consideration than the huge intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), North Korea has displayed a number of new sorts of a number of launch rocket methods in recent times, including to an already massive arsenal of artillery and rockets perfect for doubtlessly placing targets within the South.

“This morning there was firing in North Korea which is assumed to be a number of rocket launcher pictures, and our army was monitoring the associated scenario and sustaining a readiness posture,” South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Workers mentioned in a press release, with out elaborating.

North Korea’s army fired 4 pictures round 7:20 a.m. (2220 GMT on Saturday) for about an hour towards its west coast from an unidentified location in South Pyongan Province, Yonhap information company reported.

South Korea’s Nationwide Safety Council held an emergency vice-ministerial assembly over the launches.

Final yr South Korea permitted plans to pursue a $2.6-billion artillery interception system, much like Israel’s “Iron Dome,” designed to guard towards North Korea’s arsenal of long-range weapons and rockets.

About half of South Korea’s 52 million folks dwell within the capital Seoul and the encompassing areas, inside vary of the neighbor’s long-range weapons and a number of rocket launchers.

Pyongyang has carried out an unusually excessive tempo of missile launches this yr. South Korea and the USA warn that the North may resume test-firing its largest ICBMs for the primary time since 2017 amid stalled denuclearization talks.

North Korea additionally seems to be making ready to launch a spy satellite tv for pc, and new building has been noticed at its shuttered nuclear check web site.