By Joyce Lee and Heejin Kim
SEOUL, May 26 (Reuters) – North Korea fired several projectiles, including at least one short-range ballistic missile, toward waters off the country’s west coast on Tuesday, South Korea’s military said.
They were launched at around 1 p.m. (0400 GMT) from near Chongju in North Korea’s North Pyongan Province, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said in a statement.
The missile flew about 80 kilometres (49.7 miles), the JCS said.
It is North Korea’s first known missile launch since April 19, when the country test-fired several short-range ballistic missiles, which it said were equipped with cluster bombs.
In early April, Pyongyang also said it tested a new cluster-bomb warhead on a ballistic missile and an electromagnetic weapon, in a move that analysts said was part of efforts to showcase the North’s capacity to fight a modern war.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said in March that his country’s status as a nuclear-armed state was irreversible and that expanding a “self-defensive nuclear deterrent” was essential to national security.
Despite U.N. sanctions on its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs since 2006, North Korea has accelerated efforts in recent years to build up its arsenal under Kim, drawing condemnation from South Korea, Japan and the United States.
South Korea’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson urged North Korea to respond to Seoul’s peace overtures and efforts to reduce tensions in a press briefing on Tuesday.
Seoul would maintain its goal of the complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula, while pursuing a phased and pragmatic approach to resolving the North Korean nuclear issue in close coordination with the international community, the spokesperson said.
(Reporting by Joyce Lee and Heejin Kim; Editing by Himani Sarkar, Ed Davies)
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