N. Korea launches missiles amid tension over nuclear test

By Sam Kim
SEOUL, May 26 (Yonhap) -- North Korea fired a pair of short-range missiles
Tuesday on its east coast, escalating tensions already running high on the Korean
Peninsula after its second nuclear test a day earlier, a South Korean official
said.

"The North is continuing its saber-rattling," the official said, declining to be
identified and to say whether the launches were meant as tests.
North Korea, which conducted its first nuclear test in October 2006, detonated
another nuclear device in its northeastern region on Monday.
The underground blast was followed hours later by the firing of three short-range
missiles on the east coast, according to South Korean defense officials.
The latest launches came as North Korea maintained its ban on ships from the
waters off its northeastern coast. A South Korean defense source said earlier
Tuesday that the waters off the northwestern coast had also been cleared in an
apparent preparation for short-range missile tests.
North Korea, which launched a long-range rocket on April 5, is believed to have
over 800 missiles.
samkim@yna.co.kr
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