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North Korea launched two medium-range ballistic missiles over the East Sea on Sunday.

The latest launch by the North came one month after its intercontinental ballistic missile launch on Nov. 18.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff announced that they had detected two medium-range ballistic missiles launched by North Korea over the East Sea from the area of Tongchang Village in North Pyongan Province between 11:13 am and 12:05 pm on Sunday.

“The North Korean ballistic missiles were launched at a high angle and flew for around 500 km before landing in the East Sea,” the Joint Chiefs added.

South Korean authorities determined that the projectiles were medium-range ballistic missiles (with a range of 1,000–3,000 km), estimating that they would be capable of flying for around 2,000 km if launched from a normal 30- to 45-degree angle rather than a high angle. This would put Japan within striking range.

The same day, the Japanese Ministry of Defense estimated a maximum altitude of around 550 km and a flight distance of approximately 500 km for the two North Korean missiles. The South Korean Joint Chiefs did not share the altitude of the missiles, a detail that it had included in past explanations.

“In the past, we’ve given explicit accounts of our analysis findings for North Korean missiles, and that has ended up benefiting the North, which has used tactics of confusion and deception in its later reporting,” a military official explained.

“Going forward, we will be sharing limited information about North Korean missiles,” they added.

After reporting on the launch to President Yoon Suk-yeol, South Korea’s presidential office convened a meeting of the National Security Council standing committee under National Security Office Director Kim Sung-han.

“We deplore the actions of the Kim Jong-un regime, which continues to engage in missile provocations,” the standing committee said.

“Such actions further imperil the North Korean regime, and it will pay duly for them,” it continued.

By Kwon Hyuk-chul, staff reporter; Bae Ji-hyun, staff reporter

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