North Korea on Sunday launched two seemingly short-range ballistic missiles into the ocean off its east coast, in the latest test in an unprecedented series of launches that South Korea has condemned as "inappropriate" in light of the outbreak of the Coruna virus worldwide.
The South Korean Army's Joint Chiefs of Staff said that "two short-range projectiles" were fired from the coastal Wansan region and flew for a distance of 230 km, with a maximum height of 30 km.
"In a situation where the whole world is facing difficulties due to the Covid-19 virus, this type of military action by North Korea is totally inappropriate and we call for an immediate end," she added in a statement published by Yonhap News Agency.
The Japanese Ministry of Defense stated that the projectiles appeared to be two ballistic missiles.
She added that they had not fallen on Japanese soil or in the Special Economic Zone of Japan.
And if confirmed, they will be the eighth and ninth missiles launched by North Korea in four rounds of testing this month, with the North Korean forces continuing military exercises usually supervised by the country's leader, Kim Jong Un, personally.
This will be the largest number of missiles launched by Pyongyang within one month, according to a survey compiled by Chia Cotton, a research fellow at the James Martin Center for Nuclear Nonproliferation Studies.
The UN Security Council resolutions prevent North Korea from testing ballistic missiles, and the country has been subjected to extensive sanctions due to its missile and nuclear programs.