South Korea calls the North’s missile tests a ‘calculated provocative act’
Seoul has described Pyongyang's decision to launch four short-range missiles into the Sea of Japan during its military exercises with the US as 'provocative'
South Korea on Friday labelled North Korea’s test firing of four short-range missiles a calculated, provocative act timed to coincide with South-US joint military exercises.
North Korea test-fired the missiles into the Sea of Japan on Thursday, three days after the joint drills kicked off in the face of vocal opposition from Pyongyang.
“With the exercises underway, we see the firings as a calculated, provocative act,” defence ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok told journalists.
He noted that the launches also came days after an incursion by a North Korean patrol boat across the disputed Yellow Sea border that has been the scene of brief but bloody naval clashes in the past.
Kim said the tests were of Scud-type missiles at the longer edge of the short-range spectrum, with an estimated reach of 300-800 kilometres – capable of striking any target in the South.
“If the North re-engineers Scuds or tests them, we always undertake a serious analysis to consider counter-measures,” he said.
Kim stressed that the annual military drills with the United States would continue as planned.
