Daily US Times: On Saturday, the South Korean military confirmed that North Korea fired two projectiles that appeared to be short-range ballistic missiles into the sea off the east coast of the Korean peninsula amid coronavirus pandemic.
After the missile firing, the country announced an April legislature session, what analyst aid was a show of confidence during the coronavirus pandemic.
North Korea launched missiles earlier this month too. According to the South Korean military, the earlier month testings were short-range missiles and multiple projectiles.
The US and China appeal for Pyongyang to return to talks on ending its nuclear and missile programs.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the suspected missiles were fired from North Pyongan province. The province is above Pyongyang on the northwest corner of the Korean peninsula, bordering China.
Japan’s coast guard also confirmed on Saturday that North Korea appeared to have fired a missile, which landed outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone waters.
Pyongan will hold in April a session of the Supreme People’s Assembly, its rubber-stamp legislature, where almost 700 of the country’s leaders in one spot as the coronavirus spreads worldwide.
Rachel Minyoung Lee, of the North Korea monitoring website NK News, tweeted “If it goes ahead, it would be the ultimate show of [North Korea’s] confidence in managing the coronavirus situation.”
The virtually isolated country has not reported any confirmed cases of the new coronavirus that was first detected in China late last year. But a top United States military official said last week he is “fairly certain” there were infections in North Korea.
State media KCNA also said on Saturday that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un guided an artillery fire competition between combined units of the North Korean army on Friday, displaying photos of him watching with high-ranking military officers, all unmasked.
It was unclear whether Saturday’s launch was part of the drill.
