North Korea Launches Short-Range Missiles, Reports Say

North Korea fired off two short-range missiles, according to officials in South Korea on May 9.

The missiles were fired from Kusong, located in northwestern North Korea, and they traveled about 260 miles toward the east, the Yonhap News Agency reported. CNN, however, reported that one was fired from Sino-ri, which is also located in the northwestern portion of the country.

The missiles had an altitude of about 30 miles and hit the East Sea, known as the Sea of Japan, the news agency reported, citing South Korea’s Defense Military.

Four ballistic missiles were launched by the Korean People's Army during a military drill at an undisclosed location in North Korea, in a picture dated March 7, 2017. (AFP/Getty Images)

“Our military has strengthened surveillance and vigilance in case of a further launch from North Korea, and has maintained a full-fledged posture in close coordination with the United States,” the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said, according to ton Yonhap.

The JCS didn’t elaborate on what type of missiles they were.

Japan said that no North Korean projectile landed in its territorial waters.

North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un supervises a "strike drill" for multiple launchers and tactical guided weapon into the East Sea during a military drill in North Korea on May 4, 2019. (KCNA via Reuters)

“At the moment, we don’t see any situation that would immediately impact on Japan’s security,” its Ministry of Defense said in a statement, according to the news agency.

Over the weekend, the isolated, communist nation launched several missiles and rockets to show that it is still working on new weapons amid de-escalation talks between President Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.

South Korean college students stand with a portrait of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during a rally to welcome his possible visit to South Korea, in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Jan. 31, 2019. (Ahn Young-joon/AP Photo)

NPR reported that a missile tested over the weekend bore some similarity to Russia’s Iskander missile.

Meanwhile, Pyongyang’s “strike drill” last week at which leader Kim Jong Un oversaw the launch of rockets and at least one short-range ballistic missile was “regular and self-defensive,” the country’s foreign ministry said on Wednesday.

“The recent drill conducted by our army is nothing more than part of the regular military training, and it has neither targeted anyone nor led to an aggravation of the situation in the region,” an unidentified ministry spokesperson said in a statement to the state-run KCNA news agency.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un talks with South Korean President Moon Jae-in as they visit on the top of Mount Paektu in Mount Paektu, North Korea on Sept. 20, 2018. (Pyeongyang Press Corps/Pool/Getty Images)

Acting U.S. Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan told a congressional hearing on Wednesday that North Korea launched “rockets and missiles,” the first time the Pentagon has detailed what it believes Pyongyang fired.

Saturday’s drill was the first test of a ballistic missile by North Korea since it launched a long-range intercontinental ballistic missile in November 2017.

A North Korean long-range rocket is launched into the air at the Sohae rocket launch site, North Korea, in this photo released by Kyodo, on Feb. 7, 2016. (Kyodo/Reuters)

Reuters contributed to this report.