News coverage of North Korea's ballistic missile launches airs at Seoul Station on Monday. The Joint Chiefs of Staff announced at a briefing that day that it had detected several ballistic missiles fired from the Pyongyang area toward the Donghae starting at around 9:20 a.m. [Yonhap]
News coverage of North Korea's ballistic missile launches airs at Seoul Station on Monday. The Joint Chiefs of Staff announced at a briefing that day that it had detected several ballistic missiles fired from the Pyongyang area toward the Donghae starting at around 9:20 a.m. [Yonhap]

South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday condemned North Korea's ballistic missile launches as a violation of UN Security Council resolutions and called for an immediate halt.

The ministry said the launches were "a grave act that does not help manage the current situation on the Korean Peninsula."

According to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, North Korea fired several ballistic missiles from the Pyongyang area toward the Donghae starting at around 9:20 a.m. Some of the detected missiles traveled more than 900 kilometers.

Japan's Defense Ministry also announced that projectiles believed to be ballistic missiles were launched consecutively from North Korea at around 9:20 a.m. and 9:40 a.m.

The National Security Office convened an emergency security situation review meeting with officials from the Defense Ministry, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and other relevant agencies to assess readiness and analyze the security implications of the launches.

Diplomatic authorities from South Korea, the United States and Japan are also expected to hold consultations regarding the launches.

Monday's launches came nine days after North Korea's last ballistic missile launch on Oct. 3, marking the 16th such launch this year.

North Korea had claimed that the ballistic missile it fired from the Wonsan area toward the Donghae on Oct. 3 was a "medium-range strategic missile" equipped with a hypersonic warhead.


pink@heraldcorp.com