North Korea fired a total of two short-range projectiles in the direction of the East Sea/Sea of Japan on Sunday, the South Korean Yonhap News Agency reports citing the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).
The projectiles were launched from North Korea’s eastern town of Wonsan and flew 230 kilometers (about 143 miles), JCS said. The maximum altitude was 30 kilometers (18 miles). The launch took place at 06:10 a. m. local time on Sunday (21:10 GMT on Saturday).
"In a situation where the entire world is experiencing difficulties due to COVID-19, this kind of military act by North Korea is very inappropriate and we call for an immediate halt," JCS said, as quoted by Yonhap.
The South Korean and US intelligence are now analyzing other specifics of the launch, JCS said.
Earlier, Yonhap news agency reported, citing the Joint Chiefs of Staff of South Korea, that North Korea fired an unidentified projectile into the ocean off its eastern coast.
"North Korea fired an unidentified projectile in the direction of East Sea [Sea of Japan]", South Korea's Joint Chief of Staff (JCS) statement reads.
The latest missile launch took place on 20 March. On 9 March, the DPRK fired three unidentified missiles into the East Sea/ Sea of Japan, previously firing two unidentified projectiles into the same maritime area from the region near the DPRK city of Wonsan on 2 March.
The recent launches from North Korea are said to have been tests of new tactical guided missiles declared to represent an "epochal" change in the nation's defense strategy, the North Korean state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.
Seoul has consistently condemned the tests as inappropriate at a time when the entire world is battling a deadly pandemic.