TOKYO, Oct 6 (KUNA) -- North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the East Sea (Sea of Japan) on Thursday, South Korea's military said, a day after a US nuclear-powered aircraft carrier was redeployed to the waters, Yonhap News Agency reported.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected the launches from the Samsok area in Pyongyang between 6:01 a.m. (2101 Wednesday GMT) and 6:23 a.m. It said one missile flew more than 350 km at an apogee of roughly 80 km, with the other traveling around 800 km at the maximum altitude of some 60 km.
The launches came just two days after the North's intermediate-range ballistic missile launch over Japan and marked the North's sixth missile test in under two weeks.
"North Korea's continued ballistic missile launches are a grave provocative action that threatens not only the peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula but also the international society," the JCS said.
The USS Ronald Reagan returned to waters east of South Korea Wednesday after it departed last week following an exercise with the South Korean Navy and then trilateral anti-submarine warfare drills involving Japan.
Meanwhile, Pyongyang condemned the US on Thursday for redeploying the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier to the waters east of South Korea, saying the move poses a "grave" threat to stability in the region.
North Korea is "watching the U.S. posing a serious threat to the stability of the situation on the Korean peninsula and in its vicinity by redeploying the carrier task force in the waters off the peninsula," the Foreign Ministry said in the statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.
North Korea also criticized the US and like-minded countries for their bid to punish its "counteraction measures" against the allies' drills through the UN Security Council.
The 15-member council had an emergency session Wednesday (US time) to discuss the problem of the North's latest provocation but failed to reach a consensus. Instead, South Korea, Japan, the US and some other Western members of the council issued a statement condemning the North's Tuesday's ballistic missile launch. (end) mk.rk