North Korea ‘fires multiple missiles’ — days after UN sanctions

North Korea on Thursday fired multiple land-to-ship missiles off its east coast, South Korea’s military has said.

According to Aljazeera, a statement from South Korea’s office of joint chiefs of staff said that the missiles were launched from the North Korean coastal city of Wonsan.

It said the missiles flew about 200km.

“North Korea fired multiple unidentified projectiles, assumed to be surface-to-ship missiles, this morning from the vicinity of Wonsan, Gangwon province,” the statement read.

It also indicated that South Korean President Moon-Jae-in has been briefed on the latest launch but gave no further details.

The Japanese government also confirmed the missile launches, the Kyodo news agency said.

“We have not confirmed any immediate effect to our nation’s security, at this point. We will continue to coordinate with the US and South Korea to gather and analyse information, and maintain a high level of alert,” Fumio Kishida, Japanese foreign minister, was quoted to have said.

The country has reportedly test-fired a missile almost every week for the past few weeks.

The new launch is the latest in its series of missile tests defying world pressure and threats of more sanctions.

It comes less than a week after the United Nations security council passed fresh sanctions on the country although it said it would continue to pursue its nuclear and weapons programme “without delay”.

The missile tests have triggered calls for tougher UN sanctions.

US President Donald Trump had also warned that military intervention “was an option under consideration”.