TOKYO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 10th August, 2019) The government of Japan said that the projectiles launched by North Korea on Saturday represented no security threat to the island nation, local media reported.
Earlier in the day, the South Korean Yonhap news agency reported, citing the Joint Chiefs of Staff, that North Korea launched two short-range ballistic missiles off its eastern coast at 05:32 a.m. and 5:50 a.m. on Saturday (20:32 and 20:50 GMT on Friday). The projectiles were fired from the city of Hamhung and both traveled around 400 kilometers (249 miles) at a maximum altitude of 48 kilometers before falling into the Sea of Japan. Notably, the UN Security Council has banned North Korea from developing its ballistic missile program.
The Japanese Kyodo news agency reported, citing the government, that the Japanese authorities did not confirm that the projectiles fired toward the country's exclusive economic zone were ballistic missiles.
Saturday's test is the second launch conducted by Pyongyang over the past week and the fifth launch carried out since July 25.
The tests come amid an escalation of tensions on the Korean Peninsula. North Korea has been opposing the annual US-South Korean drills. On Thursday, Pyongyang warned that South Korea would pay a price for holding them.
On Friday, US President Donald Trump, who is engaged in denuclearization talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, said he had received a letter from Kim, in which the North Korean leader said he was not happy with the US-South Korean exercise.
