North Korea escalates tensions with missile launches and waste balloons
North Korea launched around 10 short-range ballistic missiles towards the Sea of Japan on Thursday morning local time, Yonhap agency reported. Kim Jong Un's army sent hundreds of giant balloons carrying garbage bags over South Korea.
The missiles were launched around Sunan in Pyongyang at 6:14 AM local time (11:14 PM Wednesday night Eastern Time). They flew approximately 355 kilometres and then fell into the Sea of Japan, the Joint Chiefs of Staff announced.
According to Yonhap, it suggests that the missiles might have been launched from a KN-25 multiple rocket launcher. North Korea has previously used missile tests as a signal to the outside world, but the launch of around 10 missiles at once is an unusual situation - assessed the South Korean agency.
"Our military has strengthened monitoring and vigilance against additional launches, while closely sharing information related to North Korean ballistic missiles with the U.S. and Japanese authorities," the Joint Chiefs of Staff wrote in a statement sent to the media.
Kim's regime launched balloons with waste
Yonhap reminds us that earlier this week, North Korea sent hundreds of giant balloons carrying bags of rubbish over South Korea. Pyongyang suggested this was a retaliation for the anti-regime leaflet balloons sent by activists from South Korea.
The situation on the Korean Peninsula has been agitated in recent months. Kim has formally rejected the idea of unifying the Korean states, describing South Korea as an enemy. According to some commentators, this has started a new, dangerous stage in the relations between the two hostile countries.
Experts evaluated that Kim is encouraged by his country's progress in its nuclear and missile arms programmes and the development of military cooperation with the Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.
