North Korea on Thursday morning fired over 10 multiple-launched rockets from Sunan near Pyongyang toward the northwest, Reuters reported, quoting the South Korean military, which did not elaborate on the development.
South Korea typically categorises the weapons used by the North Korean military as short-range ballistic missiles, the report said, adding that North Korea is banned from using ballistic missiles under the UN Security Council resolutions.
The reported development came less than a month after the country’s new warship capsized into the sea during its launch, with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un denouncing the failure as “a criminal act” that “could not be tolerated” and reportedly saying it had damaged the country’s “dignity”.
Reports suggest Kim had ordered that the ship be restored immediately and that those responsible be punished. Four party officials were subsequently arrested.
North Korea Condemns Israeli Strike on Iran as a ‘Hideous Act of Aggression’
In a separate development, North Korea on Thursday condemned Israel’s recent air strike on Iran as a “hideous act of aggression” and warned that it risks triggering a broader war in West Asia.
In a statement carried by state-run news agency KCNA and cited by Yonhap outlet, North Korea said Israel, backed by the United States and the West, is a “cancer-like” entity threatening peace in West Asia.
A spokesperson at North Korea’s foreign ministry voiced “serious” concerns about Israel’s military attack against Iran on Friday, denouncing Israel for raising the danger of a fresh all-out war in West Asia, KCNA stated.
The spokesperson reportedly said that Israel’s attack on Iran violates the sovereignty and territorial integrity of a sovereign state and is an “unpardonable crime against humanity.”
“The present grave situation witnessed by the world clearly proves that Israel, supported and patronised by the US and the West, is a cancer-like entity for peace in the Middle East and a chief culprit of destroying global peace and security,” the Foreign Ministry spokesperson said, according to ANI.
Having established diplomatic ties in 1973, North Korea and Iran are known to have close ties while under international sanctions for their weapons programs.
