North Korea test-fires 2 more missiles as U.S. sends carrier

North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles into its eastern waters on March 27, continuing its weapons displays as the United States moved an aircraft carrier strike group to neighboring waters for military exercises with the South.

North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles into its eastern waters Monday, continuing its weapons displays as the United States moved an aircraft carrier strike group to neighboring waters for military exercises with the South.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the two missiles were fired from a western inland area south of the North Korean capital of Pyongyang from around 7:47 a.m. to 8 a.m. and traveled around 370 kilometers (229 miles) before landing at sea. Japan’s military said the missiles flew on an “irregular” trajectory and reached a maximum altitude of 50 kilometers (31 miles) before landing outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone.

Japan has previously used the term to describe a North Korean solid-fuel missile apparently modeled after Russia’s Iskander mobile ballistic system, which is designed to be maneuverable in low-altitude flight to better evade South Korean missile defenses.

The launches came a day before the American aircraft carrier USS Nimitz and its strike group are to arrive at the South Korean port of Busan. South Korea’s Defense Ministry said the Nimitz and its strike group will participate in exercises with South Korean warships on April 3 in international waters near the South Korean resort island of Jeju.

The launches were the North’s seventh missile event this month and underscore heightening tensions in the region as the pace of both North Korean weapons tests and the U.S.-South Korea joint military exercises has accelerated in recent months in a cycle of tit-for-tat responses.

The South Korean and Japanese militaries denounced the North’s latest launches as serious provocations threatening regional peace and violating U.N. Security Council resolutions and said they were working with the United States to analyze the missiles further.

The United States and South Korea completed their biggest springtime exercises in years last week, which included both computer simulations and life-fire field exercises. But the allies have continued their field training in a show of force against North Korea’s expanding nuclear arsenal and belligerent threats of nuclear conflict.