The Defense Ministry has told the National Assembly that North Korea’s launches of several projectiles this past Saturday appear to be a strike drill rather than a missile provocation. 

The ministry, together with the Joint Chiefs of Staff, conveyed the assessment on Tuesday in a briefing to the parliamentary defense committee and the leadership of the ruling and opposition parties.

After the briefing, committee head Ahn Gyu-back told reporters that the projectiles fired into the East Sea by North Korea last Saturday do not appear to be short-range missiles.

Ahn explained that short-range missiles typically have a range of some one-thousand kilometers but that the projectiles fired on Saturday had a range of 70 to 240 kilometers.  

He also noted that the launches came later in the morning and were attended by lower-ranking military staff than is generally the case when the North fires strategic weapons such as intercontinental ballistic missiles.

Ahn said that the North launched 20 projectiles of various types at nine a.m. as part of a strike drill attended by artillery battery heads.

He added that because so many projectiles were fired at the same time on Saturday, it will take some time for South Korean and U.S. military authorities to determine the projectiles’ trajectory, altitude and distance.

[Photo : YONHAP News]