North Korea Test Fires Two Short Range Missiles Amidst US Envoy’s Seoul Visit

Marking its second test launch of weapons within a week, North Korea on Thursday (9 May 2019) fired two short-range missiles, the first of which flew 420 kilometres and the second one flew 270 kms across the Korean Peninsula, reports The Hindu BusinessLine.

"North Korea launched a short-range missile from the country's northwest Kusong region at 4.29 pm and then another short-range missile at 4.49 pm," said the Joint Chiefs of Staff of South Korea.

What adds significance to the timing of the missile launches is that they happened at a moment when United States' (US) top nuclear envoy, Stephen Biegun was on a visit to Seoul, South Korea to meet with top South Korean officials.

Before these tests, on Saturday (5 May 2019) too Kim Jong Un led-North Korea had fired a host of projectiles including what experts believed was a short-range ballistic missile. North Korea had later called those launches a reasonable strike drill for its own combat readiness.

Even though the missile tests violate the United Nations (UN) sanctions against the East Asian nation, United States (US) and South Korea had played down the missile tests in an attempt to sustain the talks with North Korea.