SEOUL
North Korea made it a third consecutive week of rocket and missile tests after launching two short-range ballistic projectiles into international waters early Wednesday morning.
South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missiles were fired from an air base in Hwanghae, a province in the west of North Korea, at 4:00 a.m. and 4:20 a.m. respectively – and flew around 500 kilometers (310 miles) without any warning for vessels or aircraft in the area.
The North had not used an inland location for a missile launch in nearly 20 years – although there have been a dozen similar tests from the country's eastern coast this year alone.
Chiefs of Staff spokesperson Um Hyo-sik told reporters the projectiles were "presumed to be Scud-type."
The North is banned from employing ballistic missile technology by a United Nations resolution – but also ignored its international obligations with similar launches ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to South Korea last week.
If those missile tests were intended to signal disapproval of Xi’s trip, given the North's close relations with China and theoretical state of war with the South, then Wednesday's move may have been linked to the United States Secretary of State John Kerry's scheduled meeting with his counterpart in Beijing.
The talks just hours after the missile launches were due to focus at least partly on North Korea's nuclear and missile capabilities.
Meanwhile, South Korea was set to go ahead with a joint naval exercise with the U.S. and Japan for two days from July 21, also according to the Chiefs of Staff on Wednesday – at the risk of further upsetting the North, which routinely accuses the South of aggressive war preparations.
The search and rescue operation is held regularly, and will feature vessels and aircraft from all three nations – while the South and the U.S. will also plan to conduct a separate six-day training exercise this month.
Ahead of the joint operations, a nuclear-powered 97,000-ton U.S. super carrier, the George Washington Strike Group, is expected to arrive in South Korea's southern city Busan this Friday.
U.S. Forces Korea said it would be an opportunity "to engage with their South Korean Navy counterparts, and participate in cultural exchanges and community relations events with local citizens."
North Korea may well feel otherwise, and has also filed an official protest with the U.N. against an upcoming Hollywood movie which depicts an assassination attempt on the North"s leader Kim Jong-un.
Voice of America reported on Wednesday that North Korea's Ambassador to the U.N. lodged the complaint with Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who is South Korean, on June 27.
On the other hand, the North has sent two peace offerings to the South over the last week, and also announced plans to send a cheerleading squad south of the border for the Asian Games in September as a reconciliatory gesture.
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