North Korea fires projectile towards sea, says South Korea

SEOUL - North Korea fired an unidentified projectile towards the Sea of Japan on Sept 12, South Korea‘s defence ministry said.The South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said it detected the launch towards the body of water that Koreans call the East Sea, but it gave no details.The North fired a barrage of missiles into the sea on Aug 20 even after an overture from US President Donald Trump, who said he planned to meet this year with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.That launch from the nuclear-armed North came as South Korea and the US held a shorter edition of their annual Ulchi Freedom Shield military exercises following an order from Trump to scale them back.That prompted a chorus of criticism that Trump was dumping an ally to coddle an autocrat.Pyongyang has long condemned US-South Korea joint exercises as rehearsals for invasion, often staging missile launches around the drills.Trump, seeking to revive the bond he claims to have forged with Kim in his first term, told reporters at the White House on Aug 19 he plans to meet the North Korean leader this year.The US president also said it was important to “get along” with Kim, adding that Pyongyang now had 57 “very powerful” nuclear weapons.It was unusual for a US official to state a specific number on a classified issue.Seoul says the North has around 80-120 nuclear weapons.Hours after Trump’s remarks, North Korea fired more than 10 short-range ballistic missiles from the Pyongyang area towards the Sea of Japan, South Korea‘s military said.Hours after the launches, Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of the North Korean leader, said Trump’s decision to scale back the drills with South Korea was Seoul’s punishment.She called it in a statement “an evident disaster brought by the unrealistic and anachronistic security outlook” pursued by Seoul, arguing the South had a “master-and-servant” relationship with the United States. AFP