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People in Seoul on October 4 watch a news broadcast about North Korea's missile launch
Photo Credit: IMAGO/Seokyong Lee/Penta Press / IMAGO/Penta Press
Despite strong protests, North Korea has continued its series of missile tests.
South Korea's military said North Korea again fired two short-range ballistic missiles toward the Sea of Japan (Korean: East Sea) on Thursday, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported.
The missiles were launched near the North Korean capital Pyongyang.
No further details have been given so far.
"This absolutely cannot be tolerated," said Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
The country's defense minister, Yasukazu Hamada, said: "North Korea has relentlessly and unilaterally escalated its provocations, especially since the beginning of this year."
The launch came about an hour after the Pyongyang regime condemned a US move to bring North Korea's "just countermeasures by the Korean People's Army to the joint South Korea-US exercises" to the United Nations Security Council.
Pyongyang also criticized the transfer of a US aircraft carrier to the waters off the Korean Peninsula.
This poses a serious threat to the stability of the situation, the North Korean Foreign Ministry said.
No common position of the UN Security Council in sight
South Korea announced on Wednesday that the United States would again send its nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan to the waters east of the Korean peninsula.
The ship most recently arrived in September for its first visit to South Korea in several years and participated in naval maneuvers between South Korean and US forces.
The aircraft carrier is expected to participate in another exercise with South Korea and Japan in international waters, according to Yonhap.
The UN Security Council discussed North Korea at an emergency meeting on Wednesday (local time).
However, there is no sign of a common position on the part of the Council.
According to diplomats, a proposal for a joint statement by China ahead of the meeting was blocked.
Chinese Deputy Ambassador Geng Shuang blamed the US for North Korea's behavior.
In the past, Washington has not responded adequately to the country's denuclearization measures.
He called on the US to "create the conditions for starting a dialogue."
China is considered North Korea's most important partner.
It was only on Tuesday that Pyongyang fired a medium-range ballistic missile that flew over the Japanese archipelago for the first time in almost five years.
Both the US and NATO sharply condemned the test.
In response, the US and South Korea launched four surface-to-surface missiles toward the Sea of Japan on Wednesday.
The last time North Korea launched a missile over Japan in 2017, the country conducted a nuclear weapons test just days later.
United Nations resolutions prohibit North Korea from testing ballistic missiles of any range, which, depending on the design, can also carry a nuclear warhead.
Since September 25, North Korea has used it to launch missiles six times.
aar/dpa/Reuters