Washington: North Korea launched two ballistic missiles Thursday — the second such launch in less than a week.
The tests put renewed pressure on the Biden administration to develop a strategy to address a nuclear threat that has haunted presidents of both parties for decades.
Pyongyang is banned from testing ballistic missiles, considered threatening weapons, under UN Security Council resolutions.
Both Japan and South Korea have both condemned the test.
It comes just days after North Korea reportedly fired two non-ballistic missiles into the Yellow Sea.
Japan said no debris had fallen within its territorial waters.
The US Pacific Command, which oversees military forces in the Asia-Pacific region, said on Thursday that the test highlighted “the threat that North Korea’s illicit weapons programme poses to its neighbours and the international community”.
South Korea’s military said Thursday that the North fired two short-range missiles at 7:06 a.m. and 7:25 a.m., respectively, from Hamju County near the eastern waters. The missiles reached an altitude of about 37 miles and traveled about 280 miles, according to a statement from Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff. The Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missiles, launched from the ground, were probably ballistic.
