N Korea fires two short-range ballistic missiles

SEOUL: North Korea has fired two short-range ballistic missiles off its east coast, South Korea’s military said, less than a week after Pyongyang’s first weapons tests in more than two months.Observers say the launches were aimed at ramping up pressure on the United States to make concessions as the two countries are struggling to resume diplomacy on North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme.South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement the missiles were launched from the town of Wonsan, a regular launch site on the North’s eastern coast. It said both missiles were believed to have flown about 250km (155 miles) at a maximum altitude of 30km (19 miles) and that South Korean and US militaries were trying to find more details of the launches.“The North’s repeated missile launches are not helpful to an effort to ease tensions on the Korean Peninsula and we urge (North Korea) to stop this kind of behaviour,” the statement said. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe briefly told reporters the launches were “no threat to Japanese national security”.Six days earlier, North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles that Seoul officials say flew 600km (370 miles) before landing at sea.

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