N. KOREA AGAIN FIRES PROJECTILES

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North Korea again fired two projectiles into the East Sea Tuesday morning. Shortly after conducting the launch, North Korea's Foreign Ministry issued a statement to harshly condemn joint South Korea-U.S. military exercises. It even threatened to seek a "new way" if the joint military drills continue.

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South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff confirmed that North Korea launched two projectiles into the East Sea Tuesday morning from Kwail, Hwanghaenamdo Province. The JCS said that the projectiles are presumed to be short-range ballistic missiles. It added that the projectiles were found to have flown about 450 kilometers at an altitude of 37 kilometers. Their maximum flight speed was measured at over Mach 6.9. South Korean and U.S. intelligence authorities believe the projectiles to be similar to the short-range ballistic missiles fired by the North on July 25. They are working to identify the precise specification of the latest projectiles. In response, the presidential office convened an emergency meeting at the national crisis management center at 7: 30 a.m. Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo and National Intelligence Service Director Suh Hoon attended the meeting, which was chaired by National Security Adviser Chung Eui-yong. Tuesday's launch is the fourth by North Korea in 13 days, dating back to July 25. Previously, North Korea fired two projectiles each on July 25, July 31 and August 2. The South Korean military believes that these are likely to be short-range ballistic missiles. While disclosing photos of the launches, North Korea said that they are newly developed guided rockets. This show of force by North Korea is apparently a protest against joint military exercises between South Korea and the U.S. In a statement released Tuesday, the regime's Foreign Ministry denounced the joint military drill as an invasion exercise to launch a preemptive attack on the North. It then threatened to seek a "new way" if Seoul and Washington continue to ignore Pyongyang's repeated warnings. South Korea and the U.S. kicked off their joint military exercise for the second half of the year on August 5. The main portion of the joint drill will start from August 11 and will continue for about two weeks. Initially, the drill was to be named the 19-2 Dong Maeng exercise. But South Korea and the U.S. decided not to use the word "dongmaeng," which means alliance, in the name of the drill, considering its possible negative impact on denuclearization negotiations.