KYODO NEWS - Mar 29, 2020 - 09:56 | All, World

(Photo taken in Pyongyang on March 24, 2020, shows a signboard saying North Korea will celebrate the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Workers' Party of Korea on Oct. 10 by strengthening its labor power.)

SEOUL - North Korea fired a pair of what are believed to be short-range ballistic missiles toward the Sea of Japan on Sunday, the Japanese government and South Korea's military said.

The Japanese Defense Ministry said the two projectiles were launched in a northeastern direction from the east coast around 6:10 a.m. and flew some 250 kilometers before falling into the sea at a point outside Japan's exclusive economic zone.

It was the latest in a series of suspected missile test-firings by North Korea since earlier this month in defiance of U.N. Security Council resolutions that ban any launches using ballistic missile technologies.

North Korea launched projectiles Tokyo believes were short-range ballistic missiles toward the sea from eastern areas March 2 and March 9. It fired two suspected ballistic missiles of a type similar to the U.S. military's Army Tactical Missile System surface-to-surface missile from a western area March 21.

"We will analyze more thoroughly why (North Korea) has challenged the international community" so often, Japanese Defense Minister Taro Kono told reporters Sunday morning.

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