North Korea's Latest Missile Launches Not Provocative, Threatening to US - Pentagon
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 15th April, 2020) The Pentagon does not see North Korea's most recent missile launches as either provocative or threatening to the United States, US chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley told reporters on Tuesday.
"Like we do on any missile coming out of anywhere, we monitored very, very closely and conducted the analysis. It usually takes a couple of days by the way," Milley said. "The initial preliminary analysis, and we work closely with the ... South Korean military on that, and I've had an opportunity to talk to Abe Abrams as well. It's mixed right now in terms of the assessment. I don't think it's particularly provocative or threatening to us."
Milley suggested that the launches "may be tied to some celebrations that are happening inside North Korea as opposed to any deliberate provocation against us."
He also noted that the weapons used in the launch were short-range missiles.
US surveillance aircraft conducted an observation flight over the Korean peninsula on Tuesday shortly after North Korea launched what appeared to be cruise missiles off its coast, media reported, citing an aviation tracker.
Earlier in the day, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JSC) said that Pyongyang had fired several projectiles, believed to be short-range anti-ship cruise missiles, into the Sea of Japan. According to the JSC, the missiles were fired from areas near North Korea's coastal city of Munhcon, located in Kangwon province, and flew over 150 kilometers (93 miles).
According to the Yonhap news agency, the US Navy's EP-3E aircraft was seen in the South Korean skies at around 10:00 a.m. Seoul time (01:00 GMT).
The North Korean missile launches were conducted on the eve of the 108th birthday of Kim Il Sung, the late national founder and the grandfather of the current leader, Kim Jong Un. North Korea celebrates Kim Il Sung's birthday on April 15 as one of the biggest national holidays.
North Korea has continued to conduct missile tests since denuclearization negotiations with Washington were put on hiatus in 2019. The latest missile launch was the fifth major weapons test conducted in 2020.