North Korea fired short-range missiles into the sea off its eastern coast for the second time in a week on Monday, prompting a warning from South Korea of “reckless provocation”.
The missile tests have clearly been timed to coincide with annual South Korea-US military exercises which kicked off a week ago and run until mid-April. Two missiles were fired on Sunday and both flew around 500 kilometres into the Sea of Japan, according to South Korea’s Defence Ministry.
Four short-range Scud missiles were fired in similar fashion on Thursday. Both tests were condemned by Seoul, which urged the North to cease all testing immediately and said it would consider calling for sanctions.