N. KOREA FIRES MORE BALLISTIC MISSILES

[Anchor Lead]

Following its launch of some 20 missiles on Wednesday, North Korea again fired three missiles into the East Sea earlier this morning. One of them was a long-range ballistic missile.

[Pkg]

The Joint Chiefs of Staff detected three ballistic missiles launched by North Korea this morning. The JCS said that the North fired a ballistic missile into the East Sea first at around 7:40 a.m. in Sunan area of Pyongyang. It is suspected to be the Hwaseong-17 long-range ballistic missile. It flew about 760 kilometers at the altitude of 1,920 kilometers with a speed of Mach 15. It is analyzed that the missile's flight was a failure, as it was confirmed to have failed to fly over the Japanese Archipelago. The JCS added Pyongyang also fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the East Sea from Kaechon, Pyongannam-do Province at around 8:39 a.m. Despite the missile's failure to fly over Japan, Tokyo immediately announced the North's missile provocations via its warning system J-Alert. Residents of Niigata, Yamagata and Miyagi prefectures were warned to seek shelter indoors, either inside buildings or underground. South Korean and U.S. military authorities are analyzing additional details of the North Korean missiles, including their flight distance, altitude and speed. The latest launches come just a day after Pyongyang fired more than 20 missiles over a course of four rounds, including a ballistic missile that flew into the waters south of the de facto inter-Korean sea border the NLL. Later in the day, a North Korean artillery unit in Goseong also fired some 100 rounds of ammunition into the buffer zone north of the inter-Korean maritime border in the East Sea. The South Korean military denounced both the missile launches and the ammunition firing as a violation of the September 19 inter-Korean military agreement. While tightening vigilance and guard against North Korea, the military said it is maintaining a full readiness posture in cooperation with the U.S. With President Yoon Suk-yeol in attendance, the National Security Council convened an emergency meeting and said that South Korea will continue to hold joint defense drills with the U.S. in order to protect the safety and lives of the people in the face of nuclear and missile threats from North Korea.